Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India]: Indian skipper Rohit Sharma concluded a remarkable ICC Cricket World Cup campaign at home with the bat on Sunday.
In the World Cup final against Australia at Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium, Rohit once again produced a short, but yet short and impactful innings that helped India gain some bonus runs in the first ten overs of powerplay.
Rohit scored 47 in 31 balls, consisting of four boundaries and three sixes. He made his runs at a strike rate of over 151.
Rohit in 11 matches, scored 597 runs at an average of 54.27. His runs came at a strike rate of almost 126. He scored a century and three fifties. Rohit's best individual score of 131 came against Afghanistan. The fact that he made over 500 runs with a century, some half-centuries at a strike rate of over 125 is pretty marvellous and something rare in ODIs.
Rohit smashed 31 sixes in the tournament, the most by any player in a single World Cup.
Rohit has also finished with the most runs by a captain in a single World Cup edition, outdoing New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson's tally of 578 runs in the 2019 edition.
The skipper's strike rate of 125.94 is the second-highest by a player with a minimum of 400 runs in a World Cup. The highest is in the hands of South African legend AB De Villiers, who scored 482 runs in eight matches at a strike rate of 144.31 in the 2015 World Cup.
401 of Rohit's 597 runs came in the first powerplay, between one to ten overs. He faced only 297 balls to score these runs at a strike rate of 135.01. He averages 80.20 in powerplay and has smashed 24 sixes in this phase of the innings. Rohit has been the best powerplay batter in this tournament in all aspects.
In his World Cup career, Rohit has smashed 1,575 runs at an average of 60.57 and a strike rate of over 105.49. He has scored a record seven centuries and six fifties in his WC career, with the best score of 140. He is the fourth-highest run-getter in tournament history.
The top run-scorer in WC cricket is Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar, who has 2,278 runs in 44 innings with six centuries and 15 fifties.
Amid deafening noise at a full house at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Australia skipper Pat Cummins won the toss and opted to bowl first against India in the World Cup final on Sunday.
The Indian team waltzed into the final unbeaten after playing 10 games, chasing five of the matches while defending totals in five.
On the other hand, Australia, after losing two games on the bounce at the start of the tournament, recovered to win eight consecutive matches thereafter to reach the final.
India will be looking to lift their third World Cup title while Australia will be aiming to clinch their sixth trophy.
Australia (Playing XI): Travis Head, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Josh Inglis(w), Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins(c), Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj.
—ANI