New Delhi: Rohit Sharma was at his imperious best as Team India chased a target of 273 in their World Cup fixture against Afghanistan here on Wednesday.
It rained fours and sixes at the Arun Jaitley Stadium as Rohit slammed the Afghanistan bowlers with gay abandon. But his third overboundary – off Naveen-ul Haq’s bowling in the eighth over – was mighty special.
It was his 554th six in international cricket across all three formats, surpassing West Indian Chris Gayle’s tally of 553.
While Gayle took 483 matches to smash 553 sixes, Rohit rewrote the record in 30 matches less (453).
Rohit raced to his seventh World Cup hundred in just 63 balls as India galloped to 154 for no wicket in 18 overs.
TOP 5 SIX-HITTERS IN INTERNATIONAL CRICKET
* Rohit Sharma (India) – 555 sixes in 453 matches (44 centuries, 97 fifties)
* Chris Gayle (ICC/West Indies) – 553 sixes in 483 matches (42 centuries, 105 fifties)
* Shahid Afridi (Asia/ICC/Pakistan) – 476 sixes in 524 matches (11 centuries, 51 fifties)
* Brendon McCullum (New Zealand) – 398 sixes in 432 matches (19 centuries, 76 fifties)
* Martin Guptill (New Zealand) – 383 sixes in 367 matches (23 centuries, 76 fifties).
* MS Dhoni (India) – 359 sixes in 538 matches (15 centuries, 108 fifties).
