From whispers of a young talent from Mumbai to early success and comparisons with the God of the sport, to reaching the pinnacle of cricket and becoming an all-time great, Rohit Sharma has seen it all and done it all in cricket.
He was a fresh-faced upstart when he made his international debut for India, and about a month later, he was a World Cup winner. He saw failure in his career and responded with hard work and one of the greatest comebacks of all time.
It seems Rohit Sharma has had multiple international careers over the past 19 years: a record-breaker and World Cup-winning captain. Arguably the greatest Indian opener ever, today, we will look at Rohit Sharma international career in detail.
Rohit Sharma International Career
Childhood And Introduction To Cricket
Rohit Gurunath Sharma was born in Nagpur, Maharashtra, on April 30, 1987, making him 39 years old today. He spent much of his childhood living with his grandparents in Mumbai’s Borivali suburb because of his father’s low income.
Growing up in Mumbai, Rohit naturally had an affinity for the sport of cricket, and at the age of 12, right around the turn of the millennium, he joined a cricket camp. At that very camp, former Mumbai first-class cricketer Dinesh Lad was present.
Lad, seeing the talent of the young lad, persuaded him to move to Swami Vivekanand International School, where he was the coach. He even got Rohit a scholarship, making it possible for the then 12-year-old to go to a school with better sporting facilities.
Rohit Sharma started as an off-spinner with an ability to hit the ball. However, seeing his batting talent, his coaches pushed him up from being a tailender to becoming an opener. Sharma first started making his name in the Mumbai cricketing circles with his performances in the Harris and Giles Shield, the historic school cricket tournament in Mumbai.
Domestic and Junior Cricket Career
On February 25, 2006, at the age of 18, Rohit Sharma made his List A debut for West Zone in a Deodhar Trophy match against Central Zone. That match notably also saw the List A debut of two more future national team legends, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravindra Jadeja. Rohit batted at No. 8 for West Zone and scored 31 runs.
His spotlight performance in that tournament was scoring 142 off 123 deliveries against the North Zone while batting at No. 3, leading his team to victory.
Earlier that year, Rohit was a part of the Indian squad that finished as the runner-up in the 2006 U-19 World Cup. As the first-down batter in the squad, Sharma made 205 runs in six matches at an average of 41. He played alongside several future senior team players, like the aforementioned Pujara and Jadeja, and prodigy leggie Piyush Chawla.
After solid performances in the U-19 World Cup and the Deodhar Trophy, Rohit Sharma was called up to the India-A squad. He made his first-class debut against New Zealand A in Darwin, scoring a half-century in the first innings, helping his team win the game.
2006 was Rohit’s breakout year, as he also made his Ranji Trophy debut for Mumbai towards the end of the year against Bengal in December. He scored 21 runs and bowled nine overs in a draw. In the very same season of Ranji, he scored his first double-hundred, making 205 off 267 against Gujarat. He even scored a half-century against Bengal in the final as Mumbai went on to lift the title.
Early Years With The Men In Blue (2007-2009)
ear of becoming a professional cricketer, the now 19-year-old Rohit Sharma was already knocking at the gates of the Indian Cricket Team. In June 2007, he was announced in the national team squad for the Future Cup tri-series against South Africa and Ireland. The team was captained by Rahul Dravid and included the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, MS Dhoni, and Yuvraj Singh.
Having made his national team debut, Rohit Sharma was about to face one of the toughest challenges a young sportsperson could face, representing the national team at a World Cup.
The 2007 World T20 was the first edition of the competition. T20 cricket still struggled with capturing the attention of cricket hardcores, with many seeing the format as a side show. A major issue the Indian team faced was that most of the senior players were not taking part in the competition. So, the likes of Sachin, Dravid, Ganguly, and Laxman were out.
This left Team India with the rest. The Indian Cricket Team picked a young captain, MS Dhoni, and several young players in the squad, including Rohit Sharma. Rohit made his T20I debut in the iconic game against England, remembered for Yuvraj Singh hitting six sixes in an over. However, Sharma did not get to bat in that match.
His first go with the bat in a T20I came against South Africa in a must-win match. Rohit, batting at No. 5, scored an unbeaten half-century and led the team to victory, being named the Player of the Match.
Rohit Sharma was a crucial part of the World Cup-winning squad and became a semi-regular in India’s limited-overs teams. He scored his first ODI half-century against Pakistan in Jaipur in November 2007.
As the breed of the 90s batting heroes of the national team started exiting the stage, a new crop of batters started filling their spots, with Rohit being one of them. The now 21-year-old played 28 ODIs for India in 2008. He played in the iconic Commonwealth Series at the start of the year in Australia and toured Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, and the West Indies over the next two years.
Rohit scored his first ODI century against Zimbabwe on May 28, 2010, before making it two-in-a-row with a ton against Sri Lanka in the very next game. By then, early comparisons to Sachin Tendulkar were being made. Fans and experts alike lauded Sharma’s timing and ‘lazy elegance’. However, the biggest setback in Sharma’s professional career was just over a year away.
Rohit Sharma Runs
| Format | Matches | Innings | Runs | Average |
| Tests | 67 | 116 | 4301 | 40.57 |
| ODIs | 291 | 283 | 12120 | 49.26 |
| T20Is | 159 | 151 | 4231 | 32.05 |
The Blip (2010-2012)
By the time 2010 rolled around, the Indian Cricket Team was bloated with several talented middle-order batters. And with the ODI World Cup at home a year away, not all of them were going to play in that tournament. So, 2010 was going to be an important year for Rohit Sharma.
After hitting two centuries in May, Rohit’s form took a significant dip. In the 11 ODI innings he played in the rest of the year, he scored only one half-century, getting off to decent starts but losing his wicket before scoring big on several occasions. And with this form following him into the start of 2011, Rohit Sharma was excluded from the Indian squad that won the 2011 World Cup.
He made it back into the national team in the summer of that year and had a ton of fine performances, but a string of poor games in 2012 only confirmed what his detractors had been saying: that Rohit was not good enough to be a regular Indian Cricket Team player.
The Birth Of Rohit Sharma – The Opener (2013-2014)
2013 was the turning point of Rohit Sharma’s international career, where he went from a semi-regular player in the national team to setting himself on a path to become a future legend.
Sharma was included in the squad for the 2013 Champions Trophy in England. Team captain MS Dhoni tried out a new ODI opening pair in that tournament, that of Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma, the latter being promoted to the top of the batting order.
Rohit impressed as an opener in the tough English batting conditions and became the regular opener alongside Dhawan in both ODIs and T20Is.
2013 also brought Rohit Sharma success as captain. First, after a tough start to the IPL season, Mumbai Indians captain Ricky Ponting left the team leadership, forcing the side to push a young Rohit Sharma into the role. Rohit then did the unthinkable, winning MI their first of many IPL trophies as the skipper.
Then, later that year, Sharma was also named the captain of Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy squad.
Speaking of first-class cricket, Rohit reached the peak of red-ball cricket when he made his Test debut in Eden Gardens against the West Indies. This match was the first in Sachin Tendulkar’s retirement series. Batting at No. 6, Sharma scored 177 runs on his debut and was named the Player of the Match.
And to round off an amazing year, Rohit Sharma became only the third player ever to score a double-century in ODI cricket, making 209 runs in November against Australia in Bengaluru.
Rohit Sharma 1k-12k ODI Runs
| Runs | Innings Taken | Against | Venue | Date |
| 1000 | 43 | Sri Lanka | Bulawayo | 30/05/2010 |
| 2000 | 82 | England | Mohali | 23/01/2013 |
| 3000 | 103 | Australia | Bengaluru | 02/11/2013 |
| 4000 | 126 | Ireland | Hamilton | 10/03/2015 |
| 5000 | 142 | Australia | Sydney | 23/01/2016 |
| 6000 | 162 | Australia | Nagpur | 01/10/2017 |
| 7000 | 181 | Pakistan | Dubai | 23/09/2018 |
| 8000 | 200 | Australia | New Delhi | 12/03/2019 |
| 9000 | 217 | Australia | Bengaluru | 19/01/2020 |
| 10000 | 241 | Sri Lanka | Colombo | 12/09/2023 |
| 11000 | 261 | Bangladesh | Dubai | 20/02/2025 |
| 12000 | 282 | West Indies | Guwahati | 30/09/2026 |
Among The Stars And World Cup Hero (2015-2019)
After a solid 2014, when he became the first player to score two 200s in ODIs, scoring the highest ODI score of 264 against Sri Lanka, Rohit Sharma entered 2015 as one of the best limited-format batters in the world. His form was on display during the 2015 ODI World Cup, a tournament where India reached the semi-finals, and Rohit made 330 runs in eight games at an average of 47.14.
Successful tours to Bangladesh and Australia came in the next few months, along with a great ODI series against South Africa at home. On that tour of the Proteas, Sharma also became only the second Indian to score a century in all three formats, with a ton in Dharamshala.
And while Test cricket was certainly his weakest format, Rohit regularly scored 50s with occasional 100s sprinkled in.
Sharma was also becoming a force to be reckoned with in the IPL, winning two more IPLs with MI in 2015 and 2017, becoming the first captain to win the competition on three occasions.
2016 was yet another impressive year, starting with back-to-back centuries down under. This brings us to 2017, the start of Rohit’s statistical peak. For the next three years, he would score over 1000 runs in international cricket each year.
In December 2017, Sharma did the unthinkable, scoring his third ODI double ton and entering the conversation of one of the greatest batters in the format. He kept that form up in 2018 and the start of 2019 as well.
Check Out: Rohit Sharma International Career
In the span of three months around the turn of the year, he scored 100s in all formats of the game, the ODI and Test one coming in Australia. This was also yet another tour down under where Rohit Sharma was in top form.
This brings us to 2019, the peak career year of Rohit Sharma. In this calendar year, Mumbai scored 2442 runs in 47 innings across all formats at an average of 53.08. This is the most runs scored by an opener in a year. He also scored ten 100s across all formats this year.
This year was highlighted by Rohit’s performance in the 2019 ODI World Cup. His second appearance in this tournament. In a tournament that ended in a heartbreaking semis loss to New Zealand, Sharma made 648 runs in nine innings at an average of 81. He scored five centuries and a 50 in nine matches in that tournament.
2019 also brought Rohit Sharma his fourth IPL title as the captain of the Mumbai Indians.
He started 2020 with another century against Australia, this time at home, and went into yet another IPL season. But that is when the entire world shut down due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Rohit Sharma International Centuries
| Format | Matches | Innings | Centuries | 200s | High Score |
| Tests | 67 | 116 | 12 | 01 | 212 |
| ODIs | 291 | 283 | 35 | 03 | 264 |
| T20Is | 159 | 151 | 05 | 00 | 121* |
The Pandemic And Becoming The Captain (2020-2021)
The pandemic year brought Rohit Sharma his fifth IPL title as captain. By this time, he was already the national team vice-captain in white-ball cricket and would become one later in the year.
The Indian Cricket Team, despite statistically being the best team in world cricket, had not won any international trophies since the 2013 Champions Trophy. They were favourites to win the 2014 and 2016 T20 World Cup and the 2017 Champions Trophy and one of the favourites to win the 2015 and 2019 ODI World Cup, and despite reaching at least the semi-finals in all those competitions, the team under MS Dhoni and then Virat Kohli failed to lift any trophies.
By this time, a large section of fans were clamouring for Rohit Sharma to take over the captaincy of the Indian Cricket Team.
India returned to international cricket in November 2020, when they first lost an ODI series to Australia down under, and won a T20I series.
Then came the iconic four-test 2020/21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The Men in Blue, playing in white, were humiliated in the first Test after being dismissed for 36 runs in the third innings. Then, due to personal reasons, captain Kohli left the tour and went home. India mounted a historic comeback to win that series 2-1.
Sharma was on the verge of national team captaincy for much of 2021. It all came to a head during the 2021 T20 World Cup. Virat Kohli, before the start of the tournament, announced that he would give up T20I captaincy after the tournament.
The competition was a disastrous one for India, having been knocked out in the group stage and losing to Pakistan in a World Cup for the first time, that too by 10 wickets. Months after that tournament, not only did Kohli give up India’s T20I captaincy, but he was also forced out of the ODI leadership to keep synergy between the two formats. Both captaincies were handed to Rohit Sharma.
The Indian Captain (2022-2024)
At the turn of the year, India lost a Test series to South Africa. Having also lost the inaugural World Test Championship final in 2021, Kohli announced that he would give up the Test captaincy, making Rohit Sharma India’s all-format skipper.
Rohit started his stint as the Indian Cricket Team captain with a home series against the West Indies, followed by a home series against the Proteas tour to England, with India winning all their series across all formats by 2022.
Sharma’s first big Test as captain was to come in September, as he led India in the 2022 Asia Cup, where India failed to make it to the final. Then came the 2022 T20I World Cup. After a disappointing tournament last time around, the Men in Blue did better, defeating Pakistan in an all-time thriller and making it to the semis, only to lose to eventual champions England by 10 wickets.
After a mixed 2022, Rohit started 2023 with a century against New Zealand. In a year when India was going to host the ODI World Cup, Sharma did not play a single T20I this year.
India won most of their series across all formats this year, including the 2023 Asia Cup, dominating Sri Lanka in the final. This brought us to the 2023 ODI World Cup.
India, going into the tournament as the favourites, won all their games in the group stage. The veteran duo of Virat Kohli and captain Rohit Sharma were in top form. Then came a big win against New Zealand in the semi-finals. India was one step away from lifting their first World Cup in 12 years. Standing against them, a resurgent Aussie team.
Check Out: Rohit Sharma Stats
India batted first in the final in Ahmedabad, and Rohit Sharma gave the team a brilliant start. However, having already made 10 runs in the first three balls of the 10th over by Travis Head, Rohit looked to clear the boundary once more, but instead got out for 47 off 31. This wicket triggered a cascading effect on the remainder of the Indian innings, which ended at 240 runs in 50 overs. The Australians chased the target down with seven overs to spare.
A heartbreaking World Cup defeat at home soured many on Rohit Sharma’s captaincy of the national team. By this time, age was catching up to the now legendary cricketer as well. In December 2023, Mumbai Indians announced that they were replacing Sharma with Hardik Pandya to lead the team from the following season.
With the perception towards his leadership increasingly poor, Rohit Sharma had one last chance to rescue the legacy he spent over a decade building: the 2024 T20I World Cup.
The tournament was played in the US and the West Indies and started with India defeating Pakistan in a thrilling contest. India topped their group in both league stages and defeated defending champions England in the semi-finals, with Rohit scoring a half-century to face South Africa in the ultimate match.
In one of the finest T20 games ever, India defeated the Proteas by 7 runs to lift the trophy for the second time. Rohit was India’s highest run scorer in this competition, with 257 runs scored in eight games. He is also the only player to have been a part of both the 2007 and 2024 World Cup-winning squads. Following the match, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Ravindra Jadeja announced their retirement from T20Is.
Losing Captaincy And A Push Towards 2027 (2024-Now)
After a poor run of form in Test cricket, which saw Rohit make only two centuries and one half-century in 14 Tests played in 2024, ahead of the five-match Test series in England in the summer, Rohit Sharma not only announced leaving Test captaincy but also announced his retirement from the format altogether. This came within 48 hours of Virat Kohli’s Test retirement.
Now only active in ODIs, Sharma expressed his want to represent India and win the 2027 ODI World Cup. Mind you, he was not a part of the 2011 squad that won the title, leaving this as the only major limited-overs trophy left in his career.
2025 saw Rohit remain in fine form in ODIs, scoring 100s against England and Australia. However, BCCI’s selection committee removed Sharma from ODI captaincy in October 2025, replacing him with Shubman Gill. The veteran was still going to be a part of the squad.
In the last few years, Rohit Sharma has altered his batting style a bit, focusing more on smashing boundaries and scoring quick runs. While he started adapting this strategy in T20Is, he brought this to ODI cricket in recent years.
In 2026, he has scored centuries against the Three Lions and West Indies, the former coming in England, showing why he is still the ideal pick for being India’s opener going into the 2027 ODI World Cup, which is not less than a year away. He now stands at the precipice of 21000 international runs.
Check Out: Rohit Sharma’s International Career
As far as IPL is concerned, Rohit’s removal from captaincy created a rift in the side, resulting in the five-time champions finishing ninth and 10th in three years, qualifying for the playoffs only once under Pandya.
Sharma is one of only two players to have played matches in all seasons of the Indian Premier League. He is also the most successful captain in competition history in terms of titles won. Not only that, but he has also been one of the faces of the league for well over a decade. Here is a short look at Rohit Sharma stats in the IPL.
Rohit Sharma IPL Stats
| Season | Runs | Matches | Innings | H.S | Avg. | S/R | 50s | 100s |
| 2008 | 404 | 13 | 12 | 76* | 36.72 | 147.98 | 4 | 0 |
| 2009 | 362 | 16 | 16 | 52 | 27.84 | 114.92 | 1 | 0 |
| 2010 | 404 | 16 | 14 | 73 | 28.85 | 133.77 | 3 | 0 |
| 2011 | 372 | 16 | 14 | 87 | 33.81 | 125.25 | 3 | 0 |
| 2012 | 433 | 17 | 16 | 109* | 30.92 | 126.60 | 3 | 1 |
| 2013 | 538 | 19 | 19 | 79* | 38.42 | 131.54 | 4 | 0 |
| 2014 | 390 | 15 | 15 | 59* | 30.00 | 129.13 | 3 | 0 |
| 2015 | 482 | 16 | 16 | 98* | 34.42 | 144.74 | 3 | 0 |
| 2016 | 489 | 14 | 14 | 85* | 44.45 | 132.88 | 5 | 0 |
| 2017 | 333 | 17 | 16 | 67 | 23.78 | 121.97 | 3 | 0 |
| 2018 | 286 | 14 | 14 | 94 | 23.83 | 133.02 | 2 | 0 |
| 2019 | 405 | 15 | 15 | 67 | 28.92 | 128.57 | 2 | 0 |
| 2020 | 332 | 12 | 12 | 80 | 27.66 | 127.69 | 3 | 0 |
| 2021 | 381 | 13 | 13 | 63 | 29.30 | 127.42 | 1 | 0 |
| 2022 | 268 | 14 | 14 | 48 | 19.14 | 120.17 | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | 332 | 16 | 16 | 65 | 20.75 | 132.80 | 2 | 0 |
| 2024 | 417 | 14 | 14 | 105* | 32.07 | 150.00 | 1 | 1 |
| 2025 | 418 | 15 | 15 | 81 | 29.85 | 149.28 | 4 | 0 |
| 2026 | 283 | 09 | 09 | 84 | 35.37 | 157.22 | 2 | 0 |
| Total | 7329 | 281 | 276 | 109* | 29.91 | 132.91 | 49 | 2 |
This also makes him the only Indian to have scored 10000 runs in T20 cricket. With 14218 runs in franchise, domestic, and international T20S combined, Kohli stands sixth in the list of most runs in the format.
Check Out: Rohit Sharma Records
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