“I have been watching it for years now, I have been saying it publicly, in my opinion Rohit is the best one-day player.”

This is what Indian skipper Virat Kohli had said in the post-match presentation ceremony after India defeated Bangladesh by 31 runs to book a semi-final berth for themselves. Rohit Sharma stretched his good run of form in the tournament further with a superb knock of 104 and Kohli couldn’t help but appreciate the efforts of the ‘Hit-man’. 

Rohit’s fortunes changed ever since he was promoted to open the innings for India during the 2013 Champions Trophy. He has never looked back since then and is one of the best ODI openers in the world at present. He has broken many records over the years with his batting exploits and records tumbled once again with his century against the Tigers on Tuesday. Let’s have a look at the milestones he achieved in this match:

• Rohit’s knock of 104 against Bangladesh was his fourth century of this edition and thus, he became the first Indian batsman to score four tons in a single edition of the World Cup.

• He also became only the second batsman after Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara to register four centuries in a single edition of the World Cup. Sangakkara achieved the feat during the 2015 World Cup.

• Rohit crossed the 1000-run mark in a calendar year for the third time in a row and hence, joined the likes of Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar in the elite list of players to reach the milestone in three consecutive years.

• The 32-year-old also became the third batsman after Aaron Finch and Usman Khawaja to reach 1000 ODI runs in 2019.

• Rohit also became the second Indian batsman after Sachin Tendulkar to reach the milestone of 500 runs in a single edition of the World Cup. Tendulkar achieved the feat twice in 1996 and 2003.

• He has been a prolific run-getter against Bangladesh over the years. This century was his third in successive ICC ODI tournaments. Along with this hundred, he had scored 137 against them at the MCG during the 2015 World Cup and 123* at Edgbaston during the 2017 Champions Trophy as well.

• Rohit also has the most number of ODI centuries (16) since January 1, 2017. Virat Kohli is the next with 15 whereas others are way behind as Aaron Finch and Jonny Bairstow are next with eight tons each.

• This was his sixth ODI century in England, the joint-second most for any batsman in the country. Jason Roy also has an equal number of hundreds whereas Marcus Trescothick and Joe Root lead the list with eight centuries each.

• Rohit joined the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting and Kumar Sangakkara in the elite list of batsmen with most centuries in World Cup. His tally of five centuries now is equal to that of Ponting and Sangakkara whereas Sachin leads the list with six.

• Rohit completed a hat-trick of ODI centuries at Birmingham with his knock of 104 against Bangladesh and thus, became the first player with a hat-trick of ODI centuries at a venue in England. It also made him the second Indian to complete a hat-trick of ODI hundreds at a venue. Virat Kohli was the first to achieve the feat at Colombo.

 
Written by: Prasenjit Dey