When Indian skipper Rohit Sharma takes the field in the second Test against Sri Lanka in Bengaluru, he will become just the ninth Indian player in the history of the game to participate in more than 400 international matches.
He has so far represented India in 44 Tests, 230 One-Day Internationals, and 125 Twenty-20 Internationals. In June 2007, Rohit made his ODI debut for India, followed by his T20I debut the following year. Despite a shaky start, he has quickly established himself as one of India’s most consistent hitters.
Sachin Tendulkar (664 matches), MS Dhoni (538), Rahul Dravid (509), Virat Kohli (457), Mohammad Azharuddin (433), Sourav Ganguly (424), Anil Kumble (403) and Yuvraj Singh (403) are the other Indians who have played more than 400 matches (402). Tendulkar also holds the record for most caps in the history of cricket.
“As captain, Rohit Sharma performed an outstanding job.” Ravichandran Ashwin
Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin hailed Rohit Sharma’s leadership qualities ahead of the second Test against Sri Lanka, saying that he is strategically savvy but also lends a personal touch to his captaincy approach.
“Rohit is a good tactician. He’s given his leadership a personal touch. He is in charge of the whole squad. It was quite nice to see how he looked after Jayant Yadav, who was knocked out in the first Test.”
“Even for the declaration, he wanted Ravindra Jadeja to finish his double century.” Jaddu, on the other hand, requested that he declare the innings. “Rohit is no stranger to leadership, and I believe he did an outstanding job,” Ashwin said.
At the first Test in Mohali, India defeated Sri Lanka by an innings and 222 runs. On March 12, they will meet in Bengaluru for the second game, which will be a pink-ball day-night affair.