cricket

Updated: Mar 10, 2019 15:14 IST

After a string of low scores, Indian openers Rohit Sharma finally hit form as the openers combined beautifully to give India a solid start in the fourth ODI at Mohali.

Rohit, who was rather subdued to get going, got the measure of the conditions and then slowly opened his shoulders. He launched Jason Behrendorff for his 217th six in ODI cricket and drew level with former Indian captain MS Dhoni as the batsman with the most number of 6s in ODIs for India. In the 24th over of the innings, he rocked back to a short ball to a ball from Adam Zampa and smacked him away for the 218th six, which made him the Indian batsman with the most number of sixes in this format.

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In the list, next is Sachin Tendulkar with 195 maximums to his name, while former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly has 189 sixes under his belt. Man of the Tournament in 2011 World Cup – Yuvraj Singh – has 153 ODI sixes.

Rohit started the series well with a patient 37 in the first game in Hyderabad but two back-to-back flops in Nagpur and Ranchi means that the Mumbai Indians skipper was under the spotlight to perform in Mohali. He responded brilliantly by scoring his 40th ODI half-century.

Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan also bid goodbye to their lean patch by providing a fantastic start for India in the fourth ODI against Australia in Mohali on Sunday. The duo became the first Indian opening pair to score 1000 runs against Australia in ODIs once they strung a 62-run partnership. This is their first fifty-run partnership after 6 innings.