Credit: Twitter
On October 11, Wednesday, Rohit Sharma, the captain of India scored a record breaking hundred against Afghanistan in their ODI World Cup 2023 match, at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi. After the 36-year-old played an instrumental role in taking India to their second win in the flagship tournament, he paid a heartfelt tribute to Chris Gayle for breaking his record for most international sixes in an interview.
Rohit Sharma sits at 556 sixes in international cricket currently, after his 131 off just 84 balls, which included 16 fours and five maximums. Chris Gayle is now second on the list for most international sixes with 553, ahead of Shahid Afridi (476), Brendon McCullum (398), and Martin Guptill (383).
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The Indian Cricket Team shared a video of Rohit Sharma breaking down his innings on their official Instagram account. The first question which was asked to him, “How many sixes did you hit?” He said, “I think it was five I think.” “Boundaries I think was 16 or 17. Strike-rate was more than 150, around 154 if I am not wrong,” the Nagpur-born cricketer responded to the boundaries and strike-rate question.
When asked about whose record did he break today, Rohit Sharma hilariously responded, “My good old friend Chris Gayle’s,” before dissecting his achievement. He was quoted as saying, “When I started playing this game I never thought that I will be able to hit sixes, leave alone that many sixes, but I never thought I will be able to hit sixes like that.”
“Obviously, there is a lot of work that has gone in over the years, you know, so I am quite happy with the work that I have done, you know, in so many years. I am a sort of person, I will not be satisfied, I want to continue to do what I have been doing, so my focus will be on continue to do what I do, but yeah it is a very small little happy moment for me,” he added.
Rohit Sharma sent out a message for Chris Gayle, which read, “Universe Boss is Universe Boss. But yeah, no, obviously I have taken a leaf out of his books. Over the years we have seen him, such a six hitting machine he is, wherever he plays. We both wear the same jersey, number 45 (shows the back of his jersey). So the number 45 has done it, I am sure he is happy about it.”
Finally, he concluded the interview by analysing the victory for India against Afghanistan, while talking about the current format of the ODI World Cup. Rohit Sharma said, “For us what was important was to look at every game that we come against and not look too far ahead. Because it’s a very different format that we play now, the World Cup, nine games, nine league games. And then the semi final and the final.”
“So for us, it is focus on that small small things, which is to look into the opposition that we play. And then today was Afghanistan, we wanted to do well here, understand the conditions and play accordingly. And I thought we played a brilliant game today. The bowlers did an exceptional job, you know to restrict, you know, under 280. (It) was a great effort because the wicket was really good to bat on. And then I thought our bowlers bowled really well to restrict them,” he added.