NEW DELHI: Indian skipper Rohit Sharma is on the verge of achieving a monumental milestone in international cricket. Ahead of the second ODI against South Africa in Raipur on Wednesday, Rohit stands just 41 runs away from becoming only the fourth Indian to breach the 20,000-run mark in international cricket. If he reaches the landmark, he will join an elite club featuring Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli and Rahul Dravid. Tendulkar tops the chart with 34,357 runs, followed by Kohli with 27,808 and Dravid with 24,064.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!So far in his international career, Rohit has scored 19,959 runs in 503 matches at an impressive average of 42.46, including 50 centuries and 110 half-centuries. His runs are spread across formats with 4,301 in Tests, 11,427 in ODIs, and 4,231 in T20Is.
Rohit has had a solid run in ODIs this year as well, scoring 561 runs in 12 matches at an average of 51.00, with two hundreds and three fifties, including a best of unbeaten 121. Since stepping away from T20Is after the 2024 T20 World Cup and opting out of Test cricket in May, ODI cricket is now his sole active format. After the South Africa series, he is likely to feature in the ODI series against New Zealand at home.His recent form reflects consistency and intent. During the Australia tour last month, Rohit struck a fifty and a hundred in the three-match ODI series. He carried that momentum into the first ODI against South Africa in Ranchi, where he scored a fluent 57 off 51 balls.Rohit also broke a long-standing record during that match, surpassing Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi to become the batter with the most sixes in ODI cricket. Entering the match needing three sixes to go past Afridi’s tally of 351, Rohit reached the milestone in style and now sits at 352 sixes—achieved in just 269 innings, a full 100 fewer than Afridi.