Chance for Rohit Sharma to breach Sachin Tendulkar's ODI batting record

Vishakapatnam: Rohit Sharma was at his usual best as he blasted a marvellous unbeaten knock of 152 against West Indies in the first ODI in Guwahati on Sunday as India sauntered to a mammoth 8-wicket victory.

The fireworks were evident has Hitman smashed 15 boundaries and 8 sixes alongside Virat Kohli who also reached the three-figure mark.

With 194 maximums to his name, Rohit could now dethrone the legendary Sachin Tendulkar's record of 195 ODI sixes when the Men in Blue lock horns with the visitors in the second ODI on Wednesday.

The right-handed opener currently stands on the 8th spot in the list of batsmen with most sixes in ODI after already surpassing Sourav Ganguly's record of 190 sixes in the opening match.

Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi tops the chart with 351 sixes followed by Chris Gayle who has 275 sixes to his name. The only Indian with the maximum sixes in ODI is none other than MS Dhoni who sits 4th on the list with 271 sixes, just one behind Sri Lankan batting icon Sanath Jayasuriya.

India will look to strengthen their position when they take on West Indies in the second ODI of the ongoing five-match series here at ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium on Wednesday.

Having crushed the visiting side by eight wickets in the opening ODI of the ongoing series, the Virat Kohli-led side will be riding high on confidence. The team is expected to continue their dominant performance in the upcoming match as well.

West Indies' mammoth total of 322 runs in the first match did not look to be much of a task for the Indian side as captain Kohli and hitman Rohit Sharma stitched a huge 246-run stand to guide their side to a comfortable win in the end.

Indian bowling department, however, disappointed on the day as they failed to restrict the Caribbean side within 300 runs despite scalping some early wickets.

Indian spinner Kuldeep Yadav, who was not included in the playing eleven for the last match, is likely to make a return following a not-so-impressive performance of pacer Khaleel Ahmed.

West Indies, on the other hand, would be quite relieved with the way their batsmen, especially Shimron Hetmyer, played in the first match. Hetmyer had struck a blistering knock of 106 to guide his side to a huge total.

However, the bowling department will definitely be a concern for the visitors, keeping in mind the batting abilities of the home side that too under familiar conditions.

The second ODI holds special significance for the Indian skipper as he is just 81 runs short of surpassing batting legend Sachin Tendulkar's record of being the fastest batsman to reach the 10,000-run mark in the 50-over format.

Earlier, India had thumped the West Indies comprehensively in the Test series, registering a 2-0 win over the visitors.

The two ODI squads are as follows:

India: Virat Kohli (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Ambati Rayudu, Rishabh Pant, MS Dhoni (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Syed Khaleel Ahmed.

West Indies: Jason Holder (Captain), Fabian Allen, Sunil Ambris, Devendra Bishoo, Chanderpaul Hemraj, Shimron Hetmyer, Shai Hope, Alzarri Joseph, Evin Lewis, Ashley Nurse, Keemo Paul, Rovman Powell, Kemar Roach, Marlon Samuels, Oshane Thomas.