Perth [Australia], October 19 : Indian batting bigwig Rohit Sharma became the fifth player from India to make his 500th international appearance in cricket as India takes on Australia in the first ODI match in Perth on Sunday.
The first ODI against Australia marks his 500th international appearance. He'll become the fifth Indian player to achieve this milestone, following Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, and Rahul Dravid.
The highly anticipated series opener against Australia at the Optus Stadium in Perth on Sunday will mark the return of Rohit in ODIs for the first time since lifting the Champions Trophy on March 9 in Dubai.
After the Champions Trophy final, Rohit has competed in the Indian Premier League (IPL), which concluded in June and since then has been out of action for months.
In 499 matches so far, Rohit has scored 19,700 runs at an average of 42.18, with 49 centuries and 108 fifties and a best score of 264.
Rohit needs 54 more runs to overcome former indian captain Sourav Ganguly (11,221 runs) to become India's third-highest ODI run-getter.
In 273 matches, he has scored 11,168 runs at an average of 48.76 and a strike rate of 92.80, with 32 centuries and 58 fifties and a best score of 264.
Just three more centuries' worth of runs, and Rohit will be the 14th player to complete 20,000 international runs and only the fourth Indian player to do so.
With 49 international centuries to his name, his next century will be his 50th international cricket century, something only nine cricketers and only two from India, Sachin Tendulkar (100) and Virat Kohli (82), have done before.