Rohit Sharma: From Mediocrity To World-Beater

Rohit Sharma is a cricketer who plays as an opening batsman for the Indian cricket team. He also represents Mumbai at the domestic level, and turns out for the Mumbai Indians franchise in the Indian Premier League (IPL). He also is the vice-captain of the Indian team in the limited-overs cricket.

He made his debut in 2007, and has since gone on to establish himself as one of the best openers in ODIs in the modern era. He is currently ranked among the top 10 batsmen in both ODIs and Tests in the latest ICC Rankings.

Who is Rohit Sharma?

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Born in Nagpur, Maharashtra, Rohit Sharma found love in cricket very early on in his life. After his father struggled with financial instability, it was his uncle who helped him join a cricket camp in 1999. After struggling early on in his career, Rohit Sharma has not looked back, and continues be one of India's best batsman.

Early Life

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One of India's finest opening batsman, Rohit Gurunath Sharma was born on 30 April,1987, in Nagpur, Maharashtra.

Rohit Sharma's father Gurunath Sharma worked as a caretaker of a transport firm storehouse. His father's income was very meagre and as a result was raised by his grandparents. He would visit his parents, who lived in a single-room house in Dombivli, only during weekends.

His interest began early in life, and continued to only grow after he started to find his feet at the academy.

Early Career

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After making his through the youth ranks and impressing with his undoubted talent, Rohit Sharma made his debut West Zone against Central Zone in the Deodhar Trophy in 2005. Batting lower down the order at eight, Rohit scored an unbeaten 31 as West Zone won by 3 wickets. It was Sharma's unbeaten innings of 142 in 123 balls against North Zone in the same tournament that brought him into the limelight. He soon found his way in the India A squad and was then included among India's 30-member probables list for the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy tournament, although he did not make the final squad.

He made his Ranji Trophy debut in the 2006-07 season and scored a eye-catching double hundred against Gujarat. Mumbai won the title that season and Rohit contribute with a half-century in the final. After exciting with his batting skills and impressive temperament, Rohit Sharma was included in India's T20 squad for the inaugural World Cup in South Africa.

He came intro his own during India's must win clash against South Africa. Rohit Sharma came to the crease after the dismissal of Virender Sehwag, with the score at 33 for 3. After the dismissal of Robin Uthappa in the 11th over, the onus fell on Rohit Sharma to take the innings forward. In his first innings of the tournament, he played some extravagant drives through the cover region and a couple of cut shots through third-man. The mid-wicket region was also cleared for a six by the 20 year-old, and he brought up his half century with a six on the last ball of the innings. He ended up with 50 off 40 balls, with 7 fours and 2 sixes.

India went on to easily win the game easily by 37 runs, and India booked a place in the semifinals. For the next six years, Rohit Sharma showed tremendous potential, but never really established himself as a regular in the team.

He missed out on a place in India's World Cup winning squad in 2003 due to bad form. In the 2013 Champions Trophy, he was pushed up the order and it worked as he impressed alongside Shikhar Dhawan. The two have since been India's regular opening pair in the limited-overs format.

In 2014, he was absolutely hammering the bowlers. After scoring his first double century in ODI against Australia, 209 off 158 balls in Bangalore and established a then world record for the most sixes (16) in a one-day international innings. On 13 November 2014, playing against Sri Lanka at Eden Gardens in Kolkata, Sharma broke the world record for the highest score in a one-day international innings with 264 from 173 deliveries.

2015 World Cup and Present

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He made his World Cup debut in 2015. He scored 330 runs in tournament with a century against Bangladesh as India made the last four in Australia. He has imploded into another character and has been scoring truckloads of runs. After another fruitful last few years, he blasted it in the 2019 World Cup.

He was at his sublime best as he took the tournament by storm. Rohit Sharma hit a purple patch in the tournament scoring 648 runs in 9 games at an average of 81.00 with five hundreds and a half-century.

In the recently conclude Test series against South Africa, Rohit Sharma was promoted to the opening slot. And he didn't disappoint as he amassed 529 runs which include a terrific double hundred. He is 32, but still has lot to offer to Indian cricket.