Rohit Sharma at 7000 vs top 5 run-scorers in ODI history: a statistical comparision  

Rohit Sharma is at present the captain of the Indian team in the Asia Cup, and has been leading the team brilliantly. In the ongoing tournament, he crossed the 7000 run mark in ODIs and became the 4th fastest player in ODI history to reach that mark.

Sharma was initially thought of as a talent who could never perform to his potential. He finished the first half of his decade-long cricket career as an underperforming talent and was a huge flop in the first 5 years of his international career.

His poor performance continued right till the 2013 Champions Trophy, which proved to be the turning point in his career. Dhoni decided to promote Rohit to open the batting for the Indian team as the team was struggling with openers and he wanted to give Rohit a longer rope in ODIs.

Rohit has not looked back ever since that tournament, going from strength to strength. He has gone on to become an extremely successful opener for the Indian team and is well poised to go past the likes of Ganguly and Sehwag to become India's second most successful opener in terms of both runs and centuries.

While he is at a good position compared to Indian greats, this article aims to answer as to how high he would rank in terms of the world's best batsmen and where he could finish on the chart for the highest run scorers in ODIs at the end of his career.

#5) Mahela Jayawardene (12,650 Runs)

Mahela Jayawardene is the fifth highest run scorer in ODI history and a player who is very similar to Rohit Sharma. Both players are elegant and are a treat to watch when in full flow.

Jayawardene has scored 12650 runs in 448 ODIs over his 17 years long career. He was phenomenal for the Lankan team and has the highest ODI caps to his name from Sri Lanka. He has the second highest number of caps in ODIs and that is one of the major reasons for his name being present in the list.

Rohit ranks way ahead of Jayawardene in terms of the number of innings and in terms of the number of years taken to reach 7000 ODI runs. Rohit took 181 innings to reach the mark whereas Jayawardene took 235 to reach the milestone.

Rohit might be well ahead of Jayawardene in terms of time taken to reach important milestones but in terms of crossing Jayawardene's total runs tally Rohit would have to keep going the way he has been going for the next 5 years to become World's 5th highest Run getter in ODIs.

#4) Sanath Jayasuriya (13,430 Runs)

Sanath Jayasuriya is another batsman in the list who had an extremely long International career. Jayasuriya played for 22 years for Sri Lanka in ODIs and this is again an important reason for him being on the list.

Jayasuriya scored his 7000th ODI Run in his 238th innings which is way behind Rohit's mark of 181 Innings. Rohit is also ahead of the Lankan in terms of the number of centuries as Rohit is just 9 centuries away from Jayasuriya's career tally of Hundreds.

Rohit is 31 years of age and he still has at least 6 years of cricket left in him if not more. Rohit has scored close to 2500 Runs in the last 2 years and 9 months and if he continues this form he can go past Jayasuriya in 6 years time.

#3) Ricky Ponting (13,704 Runs)

Ricky Ponting is the 3rd highest run scorer in ODI history and is by far the highest run scorer for Australia. Ponting too had a long International career as he played for close to 17 years for Australia whereas Rohit is aiming to match him with an International career which will be much shorter.

Ponting breached the 7000 runs mark in 192nd ODI Innings which is a feat pretty similar to Rohit Sharma's. Rohit is ahead of Ponting when it comes to centuries as he is just 11 behind Ponting's tally and Rohit is expected to cross that mark easily by the end of his career.

The total run tally of Ponting will be a record for which Rohit would have to work hard for as he would have to continue his last 2 years phenomenal form for a period of close to 7 years to go past that mark.

#2) Kumar Sangakkara (14,234 Runs)

Kumar Sangakkara is the third Sri Lankan and the 4th Subcontinental player on the list. This stat gives an indication of how the pitches and the number of ODIs that a player plays has an impact on the final runs tally that he ends up with.

Sangakkara has 25 centuries to his name and Rohit is just 6 centuries away from that tally. Rohit is also ahead of Sangakkara in terms of the number of Innings taken to reach the 7000 runs mark as the Lankan took 221 innings to get to mount 7K.

Sangakkara has scored more than 14,000 ODI runs and it would be a Herculean task for Rohit to go past that mark. Rohit has scored close to 1900 runs in the last 2 years at a mind-boggling average of 68 and if he continues this for the next 7 years then he might have a chance of going past Sangakkara's tally.

#1) Sachin Tendulkar (18,426 Runs)

Sachin Tendulkar is the biggest name that Indian cricket has ever produced. Any cricketer who walks into bat comes with an aim of emulating his exploits with the bat but no one has come even close to doing that.

Sachin has 49 centuries to his name and he has scored 18426 runs in ODI Cricket. He reached the 7000 run mark in 189 innings, which is pretty close to Rohit's feat. Rohit is slightly ahead of Sachin in this aspect.

Sachin's tally of more than 18,000 ODI runs has been an insurmountable mountain for batsmen and Rohit doesn't stand anywhere close to Sachin's record, even if he were to play out of his skin till the age of 40. Rohit may break Sangakkara's record but Sachin is way ahead of anyone else in this generation and Virat Kohli is the only player who stands a chance to break this record.