Rohit Sharma's extraordinary contribution to limited overs cricket

Rohit Sharma, 'The Hitman', has given us a lot of memorable moments in the last decade. The explosive batsman, who made his international debut in 2007, has scored more than 12000 runs in his career. He also holds the unique record of scoring the most number of double hundreds in ODIs, with the three he has scored between 2013 and 2017. Today, we take a look at three of Rohit Sharma's biggest career highlights, until now. 

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Most runs in a single World Cup 

In 2019, Rohit Sharma scored 648 runs at the ICC Cricket World Cup. Not only was he the leading run-scorer of the tournament but he also scored five hundreds, which is the highest number of hundreds scored by any batsman in a single edition of the World Cup. Rohit scored hundreds against South Africa, Pakistan, England, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Rohit was a very big factor in India easily making it to the semi-finals of the World Cup and fans really admired Sharma for his consistency. 

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Most double-hundreds in ODIs

Rohit Sharma scored his first double hundred in 2013 against Australia. This was only the third ODI double hundred ever scored and Rohit was behind Virender Sehwag who held the record for the highest score in ODIs with his 219 that he made against the Windies in 2011. What set him apart was his innings in the following year where he absolutely annihilated Sri Lanka and scored 264 in a single game. Five years later, this instance still remains the only time when a batsman made more than 250 in an ODI innings. In 2017, Rohit struck again and scored 208 against Sri Lanka, making him the only batsman to score three double-hundreds in ODIs. Among the eight double-hundreds scored in the history of ODI cricket, Rohit has scored three. This record in itself had solidified Rohit's legacy in cricket culture as a world-class batsman. 

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Captain of the most successful team in the IPL - Mumbai Indians

Rohit Sharma started leading Mumbai Indians in 2013, when an out-of-form Ricky Ponting sat himself out. This was probably the biggest blessing-in-disguise for MI as they discovered a trustworthy captain in the form of Sharma. Rohit Sharma led MI to their maiden IPL title that year. Six years later, MI have won four IPL titles and are currently the most successful team in the history of the league.  

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