‘Forever grateful’ – Rohit Sharma shares emotional story on his international debut anniversary

‘Forever grateful’ – Rohit Sharma shares emotional story on his international debut anniversary. (Photo Source: Rohit Sharma/Instagram)

Indian batting stalwart Rohit Sharma shared an emotional Instagram story on June 23, completing 18 years since his international debut. The ODI captain shared a photo of his helmet with the Indian tricolour and the BCCI logo, captioning it “Forever Grateful”, with the date “23/06/07”.

Rohit entered and made his ODI debut against Ireland in Belfast as a young 19-year-old kid under the captaincy of Rahul Dravid. However, he didn’t get a chance to bat as the visitors secured a nine-wicket win. These were the times when Rohit was perceived as a handy middle-order batter who could bowl a bit off-spin. It was three days post his international debut, against South Africa, that he finally got to bat, scoring just eight runs.

Over nearly two decades, the Nagpur-born has changed into a batting great and a successful leader. The early part of his career (2007–2012), where he batted in the middle-order, wasn’t as consistent as he would have liked. But his fortunes changed in 2013 when MS Dhoni promoted him to the opening slot in ODIs. Rohit, alongside Shikhar Dhawan, became part of India’s most solid opening pair, scoring over 5000 runs together.

Check what Rohit Sharma posted in his Instagram story here

Rohit eyes 2027 ODI World Cup

From there on, Rohit scored over 11,000 runs in ODIs, including a world-record 264, the highest individual score in the format. He is the only player to have smashed three double centuries in ODIs. With 32 hundreds and 58 fifties in ODIs, he is one of the best players of the 50-over format.

Since taking over as full-time skipper in 2022, he led India to the 2023 Asia Cup win, followed by ODI World Cup final and the World Test Championship final in the same year. However, in both the finals, India suffered a defeat at the hands of Australia. In the following year, under his leadership, the Men in Blue ended their 11-year wait for an ICC title by winning the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean.

He recently guided the side to another ICC title when the Men in Blue clinched the Champions Trophy in 2025 in Dubai. Having retired from T20Is after lifting the 2024 World Cup and recently stepping away from Test cricket ahead of the England series, Rohit is set to feature only in ODIs and is eyeing the 2027 World Cup, and would want to sign off with a win.

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