Rohit Sharma entered the history books when he took the field for India's ICC World Cup 2023 clash against Australia in Chennai on Sunday, October 8. Rohit became India's oldest captain to lead the team in the ICC World Cup match at the age of 36 years and 161 days when he entered the field for a toss at MA Chidambaram Stadium.
The legendary batter Mohammad Azharuddin was India's oldest player to lead in the World Cup when he captained the Men in Blue during the 1999 edition of the tournament. Azharuddin was 36 years and 124 days old during his last match as a captain in the World Cup and held the record for the oldest Indian captain for 24 years.
Oldest captain to lead India in World Cup matches:
- 36y 161d - Rohit Sharma in 2023
- 36y 124d - Mohammad Azharuddin in 1999
- 34y 71d - Rahul Dravid in 2007
- 34y 56d - S Venkataraghavan in 1979
- 33y 262d - MS Dhoni in 2015
Rohit Sharma will be in the hunt for a major milestone when India come to bat in the second innings. Rohit is only 22 runs short of completing 1000 runs in the ODI World Cup and can become the fastest to reach this huge feat. He is also levelled with the legendary Sachin Tendulkar for centuries in ODI World Cup history. Both Sachin and Rohit have recorded six hundred in World Cup history and the latter needs only one triple-digit score to achieve a major milestone.
Meanwhile, Australia won the toss and elected to bowl first in their opening game in the World Cup. India fielded with a three-man spin attack of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav and picked two pace options in the form of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj. Ishan Kishan found a place in the playing eleven in the absence of Shubam Gill while Mohammed Shami and Shardul Thakur failed to make the team.
