India captain Rohit Sharma became only the third batter for the Men in Blue to accumulate 15,000 runs in international cricket as an opener. He reached this milestone during the first ODI against Sri Lanka at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Friday, August 2.
With this achievement, Rohit Sharma joins the ranks of legendary Sachin Tendulkar (15,335 runs) and Virender Sehwag (16,119 runs) for the most runs as an opening batter in the 50-over format. Overall, he is the 10th opener to reach 15,000 runs.
For context, former Sri Lankan opener Sanath Jayasuriya holds the record for the most runs as an opener in international cricket, with a total of 19,298 runs.
The top five list also includes West Indies legend Chris Gayle (18,867 runs), Australia’s David Warner (18,744 runs), former South Africa captain Graeme Smith (16,950 runs), and another West Indies batter, Desmond Haynes (16,120 runs). Sehwag and Tendulkar are ranked sixth and seventh on the top 10 list.
“One of the greatest all-time one-day openers” – Ex-India cricketer comments on Rohit Sharma
Former India cricketer Kris Srikkanth praised Rohit Sharma for his ability to convert starts into significant scores in his opening games. He regarded him as one of the greatest openers of all time. The World Cup-winning player remarked to Star Sports in 2022 (as reported by The Times of India):
“I would rate him as one of the greatest all-time one-day openers in world cricket. What’s the greatest quality in Rohit Sharma is that he goes for these big hundreds and double hundreds, that is something amazing.”
“In a one-day match, you will go 150, 180, 200, just imagine where you are going to take the team to, that’s the greatness about Rohit,” he added.
Notably, Rohit Sharma has scored three double centuries as an opener in ODIs. The Mumbai batter previously played as a finisher before transitioning to the opening role in January 2013. This shift occurred six years after his international debut for Team India in 2007.
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