The Indian team will take the field against Afghanistan in a three-match ODI series starting June 13, with Team India returning to this format after a long gap. The squad picked for the series features a few fresh faces while several experienced players have also made a comeback. What fans are looking forward to the most in this series is watching Rohit Sharma bat — there had been some uncertainty over his fitness earlier, but his participation is now confirmed. In this series, Rohit has a golden opportunity to add a major achievement to his name with the bat, and for that he needs to score just 6 runs.
Rohit Sharma just 6 runs short of 16000 runs as an opener
In international cricket, Rohit Sharma is counted among the finest opening batsmen in the world. Although he played several matches in the middle order early in his career, once he was handed the responsibility of opening the innings he firmly cemented his place in that position. Looking at Rohit's record as an opener in international cricket, he has scored a total of 15994 runs in 383 innings across 358 matches at an excellent average of 45.3, which includes 45 centuries and 83 half-centuries. If Rohit manages to score 6 runs as an opener in the ODI series against Afghanistan, he will become only the second Indian player after Virender Sehwag to reach the 16000-run mark. On top of that, on the world stage he would become only the 7th player to score 16000 or more runs as an opener.
Players with the most runs as an opener in ODIs
- Sanath Jayasuriya (Sri Lanka) - 19298 runs
- Chris Gayle (West Indies) - 18867 runs
- David Warner (Australia) - 18744 runs
- Graeme Smith (South Africa) - 16950 runs
- Desmond Haynes (West Indies) - 16120 runs
- Virender Sehwag (India) - 16119 runs
- Rohit Sharma (India) - 15994
A chance to overtake Sehwag and Haynes as well
Rohit Sharma not only has the chance to complete 16000 runs as an opener in international cricket, but also the opportunity to leave both Virender Sehwag and Desmond Haynes behind. To do this, Rohit will need to score a combined total of 126 runs across all three ODIs against Afghanistan, after which he will climb to 5th place on the list of batsmen with the most runs as an opener in international cricket.
