Rohit Gurunath Sharma (born 30
April 1987) is an Indian International cricketer.
He is right- handed batsman and occasional right-arm off break bowler
(has hat-trick in Indian Premier League) who plays for Mumbai in domestic cricket. He is the
captain of Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League. Having started International
career at the age of 20, in 2013, he started playing as an opening batsman for
Indian ODI team, and performed well
consistently. He is currently the second highest scorer in an ODI innings,
scoring 209. On his Test debut,
he scored a century against the West Indies in November 2013. Sharma
made his First-class debut for India A against New Zealand A, at Darwin in
July 2006.
Sharma was one of the
debutant Indian who scored a century in his first Test match against West
Indies at Kolkata on 7 November 2013. Sharma was first selected for
the limited-over matches on India's tour to
Ireland in 2007.
He made his One Day International debut against Ireland at Belfast.
Although he did not bat in the match in 2013, he was experimented as
a new opening batsman for India along with the Shikhar Dhawan for
the Champions Trophy. The successful
starts given by this opening pair helped India win the Champions Trophy
and Tri-nation series in the West Indies. His good
form continued in the home series against Australia when
he scored a 141 not out in Jaipur and 209
runs off 158 balls, In Bangalore with
this innings, he became the third player to score a double hundred in an
ODI and with 16 sixes, He broke the world record for most sixes hit
in an ODI innings. His innings of 209 is the second highest score by
a batsman in an ODI, behind Virender Sehwag's
219.
Before 2013 his level of
performance was a bit dull. In November 2013 during Sachin
Tendulkar's farewell Test series, he made his debut at Eden Gardens
in Kolkota against the West Indies. He scored a 177 which was the 2nd best
score on debut by an Indian after Shikhar Dhawan. So he is a rising
star of Indian cricket.
