Adding another feather to his illustrious career, Rohit Sharma created history by breaking the former Pakistan cricketer Shahid Afridi’s world record for most sixes in 50-over cricket during the first ODI between India and South Africa at the JSCA International Stadium Complex in Ranchi on Sunday.
While Afridi ended his career with 351 ODI sixes, Rohit went one up and notched up his ODI career’s 352nd maximum to script history.
After being invited to bat first, Rohit played an important knock while also building a brilliant 136-run second-wicket partnership alongside Virat Kohli. After Yashasvi Jaiswal’s early dismissal, the duo of Rohit and Virat took South African bowlers to the cleaners and kept the scoreboard ticking for India.
In the 15th over, Rohit smashed Prenelan Subrayen for back-to-back sixes. With the first hit, he completed 350 career maximums, becoming the only Indian batter to achieve the feat in the 50-over format. After the second hit, the 37-year-old equalled Afridi’s record for most ODI sixes.
After getting to his 60th ODI half-century in the 19th over, Rohit notched up his 352nd ODI six to climb to the top of the elite list. Notably, only three cricketers have scored over 300 sixes in the format, with Chris Gayle being the third, besides Rohit and Afridi, with 331 maximums.
Most Sixes In ODI Cricket History
RG Sharma (IND) – 352 Sixes
Shahid Afridi (Asia/ICC/PAK) – 351 Sixes
Chris Gayle (ICC/WI) – 331 Sixes
Sanath Jayasuriya (Asia/SL) – 270 Sixes
MS Dhoni (Asia/IND) – 229 Sixes
Eoin Morgan (ENG/IRE) 220 Sixes
AB de Villiers (Afr/SA) – 204 Sixes
Brendon McCullum (NZ) – 200 Sixes
Rohit’s fine knock came to an end in the 22nd over when Marco Jansen trapped him lbw and the opener had to walk back to the pavilion, scoring 57 off 51 deliveries. His knock included five fours and three sixes as the Mumbai batter walked back after breaking a major record.
The former India captain continued from where he left off in his last international outing and scored his third consecutive half-century in the format.
After registering 50+ scores in the second and third ODIs against Australia last month, including turning the half-century in the third ODI into a match-winning century, Rohit carried this momentum into the ODI series opener against the Proteas and has now made a strong case for his selection for the 2027 World Cup.
