Asia Cup 2023 | Rohit Sharma Breaks Shahid Afridi's Majestic Asia Cup Sixes Record

Rohit Sharma celebrates his 50 against SL in Asia Cup 2023 (x.com)

Rohit Sharma slapped his third successive 50-plus score this Asia Cup 2023, this time brandishing his bat against tournament co-hosts Sri Lanka with a scintillating knock. His latest effort marked the 51st ODI half-century for the Indian captain, achieving the feat during the 13th over of the Indian innings in Colombo.

By the time Sharma perished at the hands of Sri Lanka’s young enigma machine Dunith Wellalage, the opener had already left an imperial 53 in his wake off just 48 balls, striking seven of them for boundaries and two of them for huge sixes.

Through the innings, the legendary cricketer displaced former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi for a huge batting record in ODI Asia Cup matches.

Rohit Sharma overtakes Afridi in sixes tally

Rohit Sharma took field against Sri Lanka in India’s latest Super Four match with 26 Asia Cup career sixes to his name. Having made his tournament debut back in 2008, the cricketer was on par with former Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi in terms of number of sixes in ODI Asia Cup matches prior to his latest innings against Sri Lanka.

As it turned out, Sharma added two more to his name to surpass Afridi to become the new leading six-hitter in ODI Asia Cup history. Comfortably sitting with 28 maximums to his name, the current Indian captain is two clear of Pakistan batting dynamite and five ahead of former Sri Lankan captain Sanath Jayasuriya.

Among Indians, Suresh Raina sits at 18 maximums to be comfortably placed as Asia Cup’s fourth highest six-hitter.

Here is a list at top five batsmen with most sixes in Asia Cup ODIs:

Remarkably, Rohit Sharma also breached the 10,000-run mark during the course of his latest knock. He became only the 15th batsman in the world and the sixth from his country after the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, teammate Virat Kohli, Sourav Ganguly, current coach Rahul Dravid and former skipper MS Dhoni to get to the coveted landmark.

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