Indian captain Rohit Sharma became the first Indian, and just the second batter world-wide in international cricket to hit 500 sixes. He achieved his feat during the second ODI against Bangladesh, here on Wednesday, 7 December.
Walking out to bat at number 9 after injuring his thumb while in the field, Rohit put up a strong fight late in the run chase. He played a sensational knock (51 not out off 28 balls) with three fours and five sixes, to give India a chance but in the end, failed to get them over the line.
Rohit's tally of 500 international sixes is bettered by only West Indies legend Chris Gayle, who has 533 sixes to his name. No other Indian batter has more than 400 sixes in international cricket.
MS Dhoni with 359 sixes is the closest to Rohit among Indian players. Pakistan's Shahid Afridi (476), and Kiwi duo of Brendon McCullum (398) and Martin Guptill (383) are the third, fourth and fifth place respectively in the list of most number of six hitters in international cricket.
As for the match, chasing a target of chase of 272, India were 65/4 before Shreyas Iyer and Axar Patel put on a century stand to resurrect India's innings. However, Iyer and Axar fell in quick succession and Shardul Thakur followed them too which brought Rohit to the middle. His half-century propelled India late in the run chase.
The Indian skipper brought the equation down to 12 runs needed off two balls and hit a six from there, but couldn't find the boundary off the last ball as Bangladesh won by five runs.
Middle Over and Backend Hurting Us: Rohit Sharma
Following the series defeat against Bangladesh, Sharma rued his team's unimpressive bowling effort in the middle and death overs.
"I think when you lose a game, there are positives and negatives. From 70 for 6 (69/6) to allowing them to 270-odd (271/7) was not a great effort from the bowlers. The middle overs and back-end are hurting us (with the ball) - it hurt us in the first game as well. It's something we need to work on," said Rohit in the post-match presentation ceremony.
Rohit also felt that Indian bowlers need to learn how to break partnerships in 50-over cricket. "We need to focus on what we need to do as individuals but not taking anything away from Mehidy and Mahmudullah. But we need to learn how to break partnerships and that's something that will hold you in good stead."
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