Virat Kohli scored more runs and garnered the most limelight, but in a low-key, understated manner, Rohit Sharma delivered as much impact as Kohli in ICC Cricket World Cup 2023. Rohit earned the moniker of 'Captain Courageous' in the tournament, leading the way with audacious, no-holds-barred hitting at the top of the order for India. He did the same in the final against Australia, scoring a frenetic 31-ball 47 to get the hosts off to a flier at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday, 19 November. (Match Blog | Streaming | Scorecard | Full Coverage)
All through the showpiece event, Rohit selflessly looked to up the scoring rate in the powerplay, even if that meant losing his wickets cheaply sometimes. But he was yet able to find consistency, scoring 597 runs in 11 innings at an enviable average of 54.27 and emerging with one of the highest strike-rates (125.94) among top-order batters across teams.
Rohit smashed one century - 131 against Afghanistan in Delhi - and three half-centuries along the way, stamping his class against most opposition attacks. He clattered 31 sixes, the most by a player in any edition of the ODI World Cup. All those big hits took him past Chris Gayle's record of most sixes in Cricket World Cup history. Gayle had hit 49 sixes in the big-ticket event, while Rohit now has 54 maximums.
With his tally of 597 runs, Rohit also amassed the most runs by a captain in Cricket World Cup history. The India opener eclipsed New Zealand's Kane Williamson, who scored 578 runs in the 2019 ODI World Cup.
Rohit aggregated 401 runs at a phenomenal strike rate of 135 in the first 10 overs of the innings, the most in the tournament. His flying starts ensured that Kohli and KL Rahul had the time to graft and accumulate in the middle overs, before the final assault by the likes of Shreyas Iyer and Ravindra Jadeja.
