Rohit in a league of his own
India have been unstoppable in the ongoing World Cup, steamrolling almost every side they have come across in the tournament with their skipper Rohit Sharma leading by example as they stayed perfect with nine out of nine wins in the league stage so far.
Rohit was one of the five batters to score a fifty-plus innings when India piled up 410 for four -- the second-highest total in this World Cup and the fifth-highest overall in the marquee tournament -- against the Netherlands in their final pool fixture in Bengaluru yesterday.
The India skipper smashed several records during his 54-ball 61-run knock that included eight boundaries and two maximums. Following his 55th ODI fifty, Rohit has now scored 503 runs in the nine matches this World Cup. He now holds the record for most runs by an Indian skipper in a single edition of the tournament, surpassing Sourav Ganguly's 465 runs in 2003.
Rohit has also become the only player to have scored 500+ runs in two consecutive World Cup editions. India legend Sachin Tendulkar is the only other batter who has scored 500-plus runs twice in World Cups (in 1996 and 2003).
Most sixes
Rohit, who has hit 60 sixes so far in 2023, has also become the player with the most sixes in a year. In doing so, he overtook South Africa's AB de Villiers, who hit 58 sixes in 2015. Pakistan's Shahid Afridi holds the record for most sixes in ODIs in a calendar year in a non-World Cup year with 48 maximums in 2002.
Rohit broke another record as he became the player with the most sixes in a single edition of the World Cup. The right-handed opening batter lived up to his nickname 'hitman' as he smashed a total of 24 sixes this edition of the World Cup, surpassing World Cup-winning England captain Eoin Morgan, who smashed 22 sixes in the 2019 edition of the quadrennial event.
The first by any team
The Indian cricket team also created history yesterday by becoming the first team to have all five of their top-order batters score fifty-plus innings in a single ODI World Cup innings.
Rohit's 61 was well complemented by Shubman Gill's 32-ball 51 as India got off to a flying start with a 100-run opening stand against the Dutch. Star batter Virat Kohli scored 51 off 56 deliveries, while KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer had kept the best reserved for the end.
Both Iyer (128* off 94) and Rahul (102 off 64) smashed tons to see India pile up a mammoth total.
Rahul India's fastest centurion
Rahul got to his seventh ODI hundred off just 62 deliveries as he eclipsed Rohit's 63-ball 100 against Afghanistan earlier in this edition of the tournament to become India's fastest centurion in World Cups.
Rahul smashed a total of 11 fours and four maximums before being dismissed in the final over.
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