Indian skipper Rohit Sharma, who is playing his first ODI for India after almost five months on Sunday (December 4) against Bangladesh, broke former skipper Mohammad Azharuddin’s record of ODI runs for India and became the sixth leading run scorer for the Men in Blue in 50-over matches. Before the start of the game, the current Indian captain needed only three runs to overtake Azhar, and by scoring a four on the third ball of the second over, Rohit achieved that milestone.
The 35-year-old right-handed batter now has 9,403 runs for India. Azhar, who holds the record of being the only Indian captain to lead the side in three ODI World Cups, scored a total of 9378 runs in 334 matches for the Men in Blue, and Rohit has now broken his record in his 234th ODI.
Sachin Tendulkar leads the list of leading run scorers for India in ODIs with 18426 runs from 463 matches, followed by Virat Kohli, who has scored 12344 runs in 262 matches. Former Indian captains Sourav Ganguly (11221 from 308 ODIs), Rahul Dravid (10768 from 340 matches), and MS Dhoni (10599 from 347) occupy the remaining top spots in the top five.
Most runs for India in ODIs
| POSITION | PLAYER | MATCHES | RUNS | BEST | AVERAGE | 100/50 |
| 1 | Sachin Tendulkar | 463 | 18426 | 200* | 44.83 | 49/96 |
| 2 | Virat Kohli | 262 | 12353 | 183 | 57.45 | 43/64 |
| 3 | Sourav Ganguly | 308 | 11221 | 183 | 40.95 | 22/71 |
| 4 | Rahul Dravid | 340 | 10768 | 153 | 39.15 | 12/82 |
| 5 | MS Dhoni | 347 | 10599 | 183* | 50.23 | 9/73 |
| 6 | Rohit Sharma | 234 | 9403 | 264 | 48.46 | 7/58 |
| 7 | Mohammad Azharuddin | 334 | 9378 | 153* | 36.92 | 7/58 |
| 8 | Yuvraj Singh | 301 | 8609 | 150 | 36.47 | 14/52 |
| 9 | Virender Sehwag | 241 | 7995 | 219 | 35.37 | 15/37 |
| 10 | Shikhar Dhawan | 164 | 6775 | 143 | 44.86 | 17/39 |
Rohit made his ODI debut for India against Ireland on June 23, 2007, and has represented the side in the 2015 and 2019 editions of the ODI World Cup. With a total of 648 runs, he finished as the leading run scorer of the tournament and scored a total of five hundreds in one edition of the World Cup, which is a record.
Rohit, who was handed India’s ODI captaincy last year, also holds the record for making the highest individual score in ODI cricket. In 2014, he made 264 against Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens. Rohit has scored three double hundreds in ODIs, two of which came against Sri Lanka in 2014 and 2017.
The right-handed batter is one of the best batters of all time in ODI matches. In the last 233 ODIs, he scored a total of 9376 runs at an average of 48.58. He has 29 centuries and 45 fifties to his name.
