India captain Rohit Sharma achieved a major record during the India vs Pakistan Champions Trophy 2025 clash at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai on Sunday, February 23. Rohit has joined an elite list of Indians featuring only Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly.
Rohit has become just the third Indian opener to have hit 9000 runs in ODI cricket. The India skipper was on 8999 runs coming into the clash against the Men in Green and got to his milestone as early as on the second ball of the 242-run chase against Pakistan. He clipped Shaheen Afridi towards backward square leg to get to 9000 runs.
Players with most runs as opener in ODI cricket:
1 - Sachin Tendulkar: 15310 runs in 344 matches
2 - Sanath Jayasuriya: 12740 runs in 388 matches
3 - Chris Gayle: 10179 runs in 280 matches
4 - Adam Gilchrist: 9200 runs in 260 matches
5 - Sourav Ganguly: 9146 runs in 242 matches
6 - Rohit Sharma: 9019 runs in 183 matches
Rohit was dismissed for 20 as Shaheen Afridi cleaned him up with a delivery that swung and seamed in, similar to the delivery that he bowled in the T20 World Cup 2021. The Indian skipper had slammed 41 runs in the previous match against Bangladesh. During that knock, Rohit breached the 11000-run mark in ODI cricket, becoming the second-fastest after Virat Kohli to reach the milestone.
Coming to the India vs Pakistan clash, the Men in Green handed a target of 242 runs to India in the high-octane clash in Dubai. The Men in Green are almost in a must-win situation as a loss to India will all but knock them out of the tournament.
Saud Shakeel and Mohammad Rizwan had put up a 104-run stand for the third wicket to rebuild things for Pakistan after they lost their openers in quick succession. Shakeel was the top run-scorer for the team, having made 62 runs from 76 balls.
Rizwan snailed his way to 46 from 77 deliveries as he looked to play the anchor role. However, his knock has come under scrutiny due to the strike rate. Khushdil Shah played a decent cameo as he made 38 from 39 balls to push the Men in Green closer to 250.