Centuries galore: from left, Ganguly, Rohit, Gayle and Kohli.
Current Indian stand-in skipper who has so far had a quiet (by his standards, anyway) ODI series in New Zealand is on the cusp of surpassing former Indian captain and opener Sourav Ganguly on the list of most centuries in one-day cricket.
While both of them are tied on 22 centuries each, Rohit has the chance to go past Dada during the fifth and final game of the series in Wellington on February 3. For the country, only two batsmen lie ahead of the duo - all-time and world leader Sachin Tendulkar (49) and regular skipper Virat Kohli (39), who is incidentally enjoying a well-deserved rest.
Interestingly, Sharma's opening partner Shikhar Dhawan is next on the list for India with 15 tons of his own. Here is the list of the batsmen with the most centuries for India, with the number of matches in brackets:
1. Sachin Tendulkar - 49(463)
2. Virat Kohli - 39(222)
3. Rohit Sharma - 22(200)
3. Sourav Ganguly - 22(308)
5. Shikhar Dhawan - 15(122)
5. Virender Sehwag - 15(241)
7. Yuvraj Singh - 14(301)
8. Rahul Dravid - 12(340)
9. Gautam Gambhir - 11(147)
10. MS Dhoni - 9(334)
However, if Rohit does manage to score a ton in Wellington it will put him level with the West Indian Chris Gayle on the all-time list, which is populated by legends such as Ricky Ponting, Sanath Jayasuriya and AB de Villiers ahead of him. Here is the list of all-time most century makers in ODIs:
1. Sachin Tendulkar - 49(463)
2. Virat Kohli - 39(222)
3. Ricky Ponting - 30(375)
4. Sanath Jayasuriya - 28(445)
5. Hashim Amla - 27(174)
6. AB de Villiers - 25(228)
6. Kumar Sangakkara - 25(404)
8. Chris Gayle - 23(284)
9. Rohit Sharma - 22(200)
9. Sourav Ganguly - 22(308)
But the Indian team and Rohit might be a bit short of confidence going into the dead rubber after they were dismissed for a mere 92 in the last match. If the track offers more help to the seamers, it could be a test for the visitors and their captain even though they have already taken a 3-1 lead in the series.
