(AFP Photo)

Indian captain Rohit Sharma continued his impressive form by scoring a dynamic fifty in the second ODI against Sri Lanka on Sunday (August 4) at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. The 37-year-old right-hander faced 44 balls and, with the aid of five fours and four sixes, made 64 runs. He reached his half-century in just 29 balls and, along with Shubman Gill, put on 97 runs for the first wicket in 13.3 overs before being dismissed by Jeffrey Vandersay.

With this second fifty of the ongoing three-match ODI series, Rohit surpassed Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 120 fifty-plus scores for India as an opener in international cricket. The Nagpur-born player, who debuted for India in 2007, now holds the record with 121 fifty-plus scores as an opener.

In the list of batters with the most fifty-plus scores as openers, Australia’s David Warner leads with 146 such scores. Warner, who retired from international cricket earlier this year, is followed by West Indies legend Chris Gayle with 144, Sri Lanka’s Sanath Jayasuriya with 136, West Indies’ Desmond Haynes with 131, and former South African captain Graeme Smith with 125.

On Sunday, while surpassing Sachin Tendulkar’s record for the most fifty-plus scores as an opener, Rohit Sharma also achieved another milestone by becoming the first Indian opener to score 300 runs in international cricket. His four sixes in the second ODI brought his total to 330 sixes in ODIs, just one short of Gayle’s 331. Former Pakistani all-rounder and captain Shahid Afridi holds the record for the most sixes in ODIs.

Throughout his 19-year ODI career, Shahid Afridi appeared in 398 matches for Pakistan and hit 351 sixes.

Rohit Sharma’s 64-run innings on Sunday also saw him surpass Rahul Dravid’s record of 10,768 ODI runs for India, making him the fourth-highest run scorer for the Men in Blue in the 50-over format. The 37-year-old Rohit, one of three Indian captains to win an ICC trophy, now has 10,831 runs in 264 ODIs.