India opener Rohit Sharma has mastered the art of piling up mammoth individual scores in white-ball cricket. He holds the record of highest individual score (264 vs Sri Lanka) in the 50-over format and is the only batsman in cricket history to have smashed three ODI double tons, four Twenty20 international centuries.
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On Friday (May 15), Rohit revealed the secret of making daddy hundreds in a Facebook live session with Bangladesh ODI captain Tamim Iqbal.
“I made lots of mistakes initially in my career. First 5-6 years when I batted at the middle order, I made lots of mistakes. When you come to the international arena, you are bound to make mistakes early on in your career. But I have realized about those mistakes is not gonna take me anywhere. So I have to think about my game. I have to bring some discipline in my game. And that’s what I did,” Sharma said.
The 33-year-old also credited opening partner Shikhar Dhawan for his big scores as the southpaw plays attacking shots and allows him to take time initially.
“There are some things when I open the innings. I like to take my time initially. And here I get help from Shikhar Dhawan. Dhawan is naturally very attacking player. He likes to play ground shots. He doesn’t like to play aerial shots. And that’s his strength to find gaps. I give lots of strike to him initially. And I bat thinking these things. My job is to bat as long as possible till about 40 or 45th over. That’s what I think when I bat,” the Hitman explained.
Ever since they became an opening pair in ODI cricket during the ICC Champions Trophy 2013, Rohit and Dhawan have forged many memorable partnerships.
In 107 ODI innings thus far, the pair has aggregated 4802 runs at an average of 45.30 between themselves. They are currently placed at the second position in the all-time list of maximum 100-run opening partnerships with 16 such stands.
Moreover, Rohit and Dhawan have also stitched 14 partnerships of fifty runs or more in ODIs, with 210 being their best stand so far.
