Stats: Rohit Sharma's journey to India’s highest sporting honour Khel Ratna

Rohit Sharma set to be conferred with the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, India’s highest sporting honour. Rohit will be receiving this award for his batting excellence during a 4-year period between 1st January 2016 and 31st December 2019. Sharma has become just the 4th cricketer to win the Khel Ratna despite his not so great record in the longer format which shows his dominance in the white-ball cricket. Sachin Tendulkar (1997-98), MS Dhoni (2007-08) and Virat Kohli (2014-2017) are the other cricketers to be conferred with Khel Ratna.

Here are major stats and records that Rohit Sharma created in International cricket between 2016 and 2019:

1 – Rohit Sharma, in 2019, became the first player in International cricket to smash ten centuries in a calendar year as an opener. Rohit’s 2442 runs in 2019 across all three International formats are also the most as an opener in a calendar year.

2 – The Indian team, led by Rohit Sharma, won the Nidahas Trophy and Asia Cup in the year 2018. These are the only multi-team tournaments which India won since their triumph during the 2016 Asia Cup T20.

3 – Rohit, in December 2017, smashed an unbeaten 208 against Sri Lanka which is only the 2nd double hundred by a captain in Men’s ODI cricket. It was also Rohit’s 3rd double century in ODI cricket while no one else has scored more than one.

5 – Rohit Sharma, with his five centuries in the 2019 CWC, became the first player to smash five tons in an edition of World Cup. With those five tons, Rohit also equalled Sachin Tendulkar’s six hundreds in World Cup history. Rohit also became the first player in ODI history to hit as many as five tons in a series/tournament.

5 – Between 2016 and 2019, Rohit registered as many five 150+ scores in ODI cricket which are the most for any player. He had seven 150+ scores across all formats which are only behind Virat Kohli’s 12.

10 – Between 2017 and 2019, Rohit Sharma scored at least one century in 10 consecutive ODI series/tournaments. No other player had a streak that lasted more than six series/tournaments.

12 – In 2018, India won 12 consecutive International matches they played under Rohit Sharma’s captaincy. It is the joint-longest streak for any captain alongside Virat Kohli’s 12 in 2017.

13 – Rohit set a new record for most sixes hit by a player during a Test match with the 13 maximums he smashed during the last year’s Vizag Test against South Africa. During the same match, Rohit became the first player to score twin centuries in maiden Test as an opener.

20 – Number of centuries by Rohit in ODI format between 2016 and 2019; the joint-most alongside Virat Kohli, who also struck 20 ODI tons in this period. However, Kohli leads the runs column of this format having scored 4778 and leaves Rohit (4377) at No.2.

27 – Rohit’s 27 centuries in International cricket during the considered period are the 2nd most behind’s 36 hundreds by Virat. However, Rohit has 20 ODI hundreds and three T20I tons in this span coming as an opener which are the most for any player while opening the innings. Moreover, 23 of the 27 hundreds of Rohit came in white-ball cricket which are the most by any player.

65.52 – Rohit’s Test batting average between 2016 and 2019 read 65.52 which is the 3rd best for any player with 1000+ runs behind Virat Kohli (68.73) and Steve Smith (66.79). In fact, Sharma’s average of 52.02 in International cricket during this period is also 3rd best behind Virat Kohli (71.16) and Steve Smith (55.34). [Min: 25 innings]

118 – Rohit scored the joint-fastest century in T20I format off 35 balls during the 2017 Indore T20I against Sri Lanka. He ended up scoring 118 in that game which is the highest individual score in T20I for India. Later in 2018, Sharma made an unbeaten 111 which is the 2nd highest T20I score for India.

Both these centuries came while captaining the Indian team which made him the first skipper in T20I history with multiple hundreds. No player other than Rohit has scored a T20I ton while leading the team in Men’s cricket.

263 – Rohit Sharma struck as many as 263 sixes in International cricket between 2016 and 2019 which are 122 more than any other player in that period. Rohit hit 140 sixes in the ODI format itself while no other player struck even 100 during this period. His 88 T20I sixes in those four years are joint-most alongside Colin Munro.

1766 – Rohit amassed 1766 runs in the T20I cricket between 2016 and 2019 which are the most by any player. His three centuries during this period are also the joint-most alongside Colin Munro and Glenn Maxwell.