XtraTime Web Desk: Indian cricket have seen so many wonderful batsmen in its history, but among them very few are “artists”. India’s opening batsman and Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma is certainly among those elite class of talents. The classy right-handed batsman from Mumbai is celebrating his birthday today.
Born April 30, 1987, Rohit Sharma, is celebrating his 31st birthday. Rohit has the merit of scoring two Test centuries in his first two innings. Rohit has the record of highest individual ODI score — 264 which he scored against Sri Lanka in 2014. He is the only cricketer to have scored three double tons in One-Day International (ODI) cricket which he achieved against Australia and Sri Lanka (twice).
Here goes 31 interesting facts about Rohit, which the Indian cricket fans will relish to read:
# Rohit Sharma is the only second Indian player after Sourav Ganguly to score a century in a knock out match in the ICC World Cup history.
# He also has an IPL hattrick to his name. He did it for Deccan Chargers.
# Rohit Sharma has never lost an IPL final- 2009 for Deccan Chargers and 2013, 2015, 2017 for Mumbai Indians.
# Rohit Sharma played his first international match in T20 world cup 2007 against South Africa. He scored a 50.
# Rohit was awarded Arjuna Award for his excellence in the Cricket in 2015.
# Rohit Sharma is often called ‘gifted’ and ‘talented’ but the man himself doesn’t think so. He credits his success to his hard work.
# His full name is Rohit Gurunath Sharma- he is called Hitman or Ro-Hit after his aggressive batting style.
# Rohit’s mother hails from Vizag. So, Rohit understands a little Telegu and can say few sentences, like “etla unaru” (How are you).
# He was not financially stable and that’s why he was given a scholarship for studies due to his cricket abilities.
# He once bunked school to meet his batting idol, Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag.
# Rohit is a vegetarian. However, he loves having very fond of eggs but doesn’t consume them inside his home.
# His friend once challenged him to eat 45 eggs and he effortlessly won the challenge.
# Rohit is known for forgetting things and leaving them behind in hotels or flights.
# He once forgot his wedding ring in a hotel.
# According to Virat Kohli, Rohit loves to sleep a lot.
# He married Ritika Sajdeh on 13 December, 2015 after being in a relationship for six years. Ritika is the rakhi sister of Yuvraj Singh.
# Rohit Sharma was told to stay away from his future wife Ritika Sajdeh by Yuvraj Singh when he first saw her.
# Ritika is a sports manager who has a list of cricketers she handles and Rohit Sharma is one of them.
# Rohit Sharma had revealed that he once went shopping in Australia and bought products (four jeans and 10-15 T-shirts) worth 1.5 lakhs INR.
# Rohit is a supporter of Real Madrid football club. He also follows the English Premier League where he supports Manchester United.
# Rohit wears jersey number 45.- his mother chose the number as 4 and 5 add up to 9 which is the number recommended by the astrologer.
# Rohit Sharma had posed for People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) in 2014 in their campaign against circuses.
# Rohit did not start as a batsman but as an off-spin bowler.
# His coach Dinesh Lad, the father of Mumbai teammate Sidhesh Lad, understood Rohit’s potential as a cricketer and made him a batsman.
# He is the second Indian cricketer (after Raina) to score a century in all formats of the game.
# Rohit holds the record of most double hundreds, most sixes in an Innings, most boundaries in an innings, most runs from boundaries in an innings.
# If Rohit Sharma was a country, his knock of 264 would have won the 1983, 1987, 1992, 1996 and 1999 World Cup finals.
# The match in which Rohit Sharma scored 264 runs, Sri Lanka’s total score was 251. So, if we see technically then he single-handedly won that match by 13 runs.
# Rohit is the 1st Indian to score a ODI century at the WACA ground in Perth.
# Rohit is the 3rd Indian to score back-to-back Test centuries on debut.
# Rohit Sharma was the first Indian to score a hundred in T20s when he scored one for Mumbai against Gujarat in the 2006-07 edition of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 competition. He scored 101* off 45 balls with 13 fours and five sixes.