On 07th May 2025 (Wednesday), Rohit Sharma left the entire cricket world stunned by announcing his retirement from test cricket through his Instagram story. His decision came amidst the increasing discussions of terminating his test captaincy, one month ahead of India’s tour of England starting from June 20.
Hitman started his test career in style by scoring a century in his debut against West Indies in 2013. Although, he rose to fame as a middle order batter in the red-ball format, the lack of opportunity, and inconsistency sidelined him for years.
However, the right-handed batter changed his fortunes as an opener in the longest format by smashing the most centuries since 2019.
While the 38-year-old’s career average of 40.6 depicts one story, delving deeper into the history makes every fan understand that his numbers of 45.5 were outstanding before the completion of the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 cycle.
Even after a late blooming in the format, let’s find out how Rohit’s impressive stats helped him conclude his test career with countless record-breaking achievements.
The Rise of Hitman in Tests: Back-to-Back Centuries vs Windies
Within a few days after scoring a magnificent double century in ODIs against Australia, Rohit Sharma established his brand as the Hitman of test cricket. He marked a stunning debut against the West Indies in November 2013 by scoring back-to-back tons.
Rohit’s Maiden Test Century: A Performance That Revived India’s Innings
Batting at the No.6 spot, Rohit scored his maiden test century in his debut, which included a jaw-dropping score of 177 runs from 301 balls (including 23 fours and a six) at a strike rate of 58.80.
The right-handed batter arrived at the crease when the Indian batting line-up was left struggling with 82/4 in 28.3 overs after Sachin Tendulkar’s dismissal.
However, Rohit, as a 26-year-old at that time, showed great composure under pressure. He maintained a solid 73-run partnership with his captain, MS Dhoni. Additionally, a solid partnership of 230 runs with Ravichandran Ashwin steered Team India to post a total of 453 in 129.4 overs.
As a debutant, he became the fifth Indian cricketer at that time to be honored with the “player of the match” award.
Rohit’s Second Test Century in Sachin’s Farewell Match
Soon after a memorable debut, Rohit Sharma scored his second test century against the West Indies during Sachin Tendulkar’s last international game in front of his home crowd at the Wankhede Stadium.
The middle-order batter remained unbeaten by scoring 111 runs from 127 balls (including 11 fours and 3 sixes) at a strike rate of 87.40. As a result, India comfortably secured a dominating victory over the visitors by an innings and 126 runs.
Also, he is one of those elite cricketers in the world who was named the “Player of the Series” for his blistering performance in his debut test series.
Test Career Growth in 2019 As an Opener
After years of setbacks in test cricket, Rohit Sharma made a comeback in October 2019 and was promoted as an opener under Virat Kohli’s captaincy. Since then, the veteran batter has moved on to achieve record-breaking milestones in his test cricket career, which include:
Most Test Centuries as an Opener Since 2019
Ever since Rohit’s assignment as a test opener, he has smashed the maximum number of centuries since 2019 and leads the charts compared to other opening batters in this period.
| Rankings | Opening Batter | National Team | Number of Centuries (Since 2019) |
| 1. | Rohit Sharma | India | 9 |
| 2. | Dimuth Karunaratne | Sri Lanka | 7 |
| 3. | Usman Khawaja | Australia | 6 |
| 4. | Shafique | Pakistan | 5 |
| 5. | David Warner | Australia | 5 |
Most Test Centuries by any Batter in the Winning Cause
| Rankings | Player | National Team | All Test Centuries in Winning Cause |
| 1. | Rohit Sharma | India | 12 |
| 2. | Warwick Armstrong | Australia | 6 |
| 3. | Darren Lehmann | Australia | 5 |
| 4. | Mike Denness | England | 4 |
| 5. | Joe Burns | Italy | 4 |
An Average of 50.03 in Test Cricket From 2019-20
Rohit Sharma was one among those top 10 batters, who averaged above 50 in tests during the 2019-20 period:
| Rankings | Player | National Team | 50-Plus Batting Average (From 2019-20) |
| 1. | Kane Williamson | New Zealand | 62.92 |
| 2. | Usman Khawaja | Australia | 53.41 |
| 3. | Babar Azam | Pakistan | 53.26 |
| 4. | Joe Root | England | 52.73 |
| 5. | Marnus Labuschagne | Australia | 52.22 |
| 6. | Dimuth Karunaratne | Sri Lanka | 51.56 |
| 7. | Daryl Mitchell | New Zealand | 50.25 |
| 8. | Dhananjaya de Silva | Sri Lanka | 50.20 |
| 9. | Rohit Sharma | India | 50.03 |
| 10. | Mushfiqur Rahim | Bangladesh | 49.90 |
Most Runs by any Indian in the World Test Championship Cycle (From 2019 to 2025)
Interestingly, Rohit Sharma is the leading run scorer in the World Test Championship (WTC) cycle from 2019 to 2025, Virat Kohli, hailed as the ‘King of Cricket’, ranks behind him in the following list:
| Rankings | Player | Span in WTC Cycle | Runs | Matches | Innings |
| 1. | Rohit Sharma | 2019 to 2025 | 2,716 | 40 | 69 |
| 2. | Virat Kohli | 2019 to 2025 | 2,617 | 46 | 79 |
| 3. | Rishabh Pant | 2019 to 2025 | 2,252 | 34 | 60 |
| 4. | Shubman Gill | 2020 to 2025 | 1,893 | 32 | 59 |
| 5. | Yashasvi Jaiswal | 2023 to 2025 | 1,798 | 19 | 36 |
Also, the former Indian test captain ranked as the 10th leading run scorer in the first three cycles of the WTC since 2019, with England’s ace batter Joe Root currently topping the charts (5,543 runs in 117 innings).
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