5 things you may not have known about Rohit Sharma

Despite being a constant fixture in the Indian side, Rohit Sharma still hasn't convinced everyone. Whether it is captaining Mumbai Indians to an IPL title or consistently scoring runs at the top of the order, Rohit has certainly done a lot to have earned plenty of plaudits in the past few years.

However, there are still certain aspects to Rohit Sharma that not everyone is aware of. Not everyone is aware of the fact that he has taken an IPL hat-trick.

Here are five such things about Rohit Sharma and his career that you might not know:

Long wait for Test debut

Going into the 2010 home Test series against South Africa, Rohit Sharma had one eye on a Test cap, especially with Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh out through injury. And when VVS Laxman, who has doubtful for the first Test in Nagpur couldn't regain his fitness in time, all eyes were on Rohit Sharma, who looked set to make his Test debut three years after making ODI and T20I debut.

However, fate dealt him a cruel blow as he injured himself in the warm-up playing football on the morning of day one of the Nagpur Test. He was asked to stay back as cover for VVS after he captained the Board President's XI for the tour game in Nagpur. His injury meant, India, who were already depleted in the batting department had to call on reserve wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha (who made his debut in the game) as a specialist batsman.

Since then, he came close twice. First, when was part of the squad to take on West Indies in the third Test in November 2011 and also in the four-Test series against Australia in 2011/12 but on both occasions, he could not make the playing XI. And he had to wait until November 2013 to finally make his Test debut.

And when it finally came around he made it count as he scored 177 on debut at Eden Gardens, a ground he has come to love batting on and help India thrash West Indies by an innings. However, despite that glorious century on debut, he has only played 15 more in over two and a half years, which is surely something he would want to change.

Contrasting performances on international debuts in all formats

Rohit Sharma is a permanent fixture in the Indian ODI side so it was no surprise to note that he made his international bout in an ODI, against Ireland in 2007. Three months later, he made his T20I debut against England in the ICC World T20. However, he only made his Test debut six years later against West Indies in India.

Although it might have been the last format that Rohit made his debut in, it was his most successful debut as he scored his highest Test score (177) in his debut innings. It was his innings and his partnership with Ravichandran Ashwin that helped India get out of a tight spot and win by an innings and 51 runs.

In his ODI and T20I debut, Rohit didn't get an opportunity to bat. On both occasions, he was scheduled to come in at No.7 but the innings was over before he could come in. His T20I debut is remembered more for Yuvraj's six sixes and fastest fifty record and India's emergence as a contender in the tournament more than anything else.

Meteoric rise to India's Champions Trophy probables before playing a first-class match

Rohit Sharma is a constant fixture in the Indian limited-overs side but the same cannot be said about his spot in the Test team. Perhaps that is down to the fact that he is more in tune with the shorter formats and his game is more suited to it. But, it might also be because he started playing it first and that is what comes to him naturally.

One look at his records will tell you that he actually played a List-A game and even was in the 30-member probables for India's Champions Trophy squad in 2006 before he had even played a first-class game. He made his List-A debut in a Deodhar Trophy match for West Zone and it was his performances in that tournament coupled with his exploits with the India A side in Abu Dhabi and Australia that led to his inclusion in the probables list, even if he didn't make the final cut.

And all of this was before he made his first class debut, nearly five months after his List-A debut. His overall record suggests that he is a better long format player (averages 54.3 in first-class matches) and Indian fans will be hoping that is true in the upcoming 12 months where they play loads of Tests.

Won on his debuts in all formats (domestic and international)

As far as his first-class, List-A and T20 debuts go, all three began on a positive not as his side won on all three occasions. On his List-A debut for West Zone in 2006, he scored an unbeaten 31 coming in at No.8 to help his side chase 181 in Gwalior. On his first-class debut a few months later, he scored a fifty in the first innings as India A beat New Zealand A by three wickets. His T20 debut was in 2007 and here, he scored an unbeaten 40 to help Mumbai beat Baroda by eight wickets.

It was soon after his debut for West Zone that he got noticed and his performances for India A further strengthened his case. And by the time 2007 came around, he was ready to make his international debut. His ODI debut against Ireland resulted in an easy victory for India by nine wickets thanks to fifties from Sourav Ganguly and Gautam Gambhir in a rain-curtailed game. His T20I debut against England was one which India won by just 18 runs despite scoring 218.

His Test debut, where he put in his best performance also came in a victory as his partnership with Ravichandran Ashwin helped India post 453 in response to West Indies' 234 and eventually win the game by an innings thanks to Mohammed Shami's nine-wicket haul from the match.

Two centuries in Ranji Trophy final

International cricket might have superceded domestic cricket in the modern era but there can be little doubt that the latter still has an important role to play in developing players. As far as India is concerned, Ranji Trophy is undeniably the pinnacle of Indian domestic cricket. Although Rohit Sharma hasn't played it for long enough to have a lot of records, he still holds one that has only been achieved by five other players in Ranji history.

When Rohit scored a hundred in both innings for Mumbai in the 2008/09 final against Uttar Pradesh, he became only the sixth player to achieve that feat. Of the others who have achieved that, three of them are practically legends. Sachin Tendulkar have plenty of records to his name including this one and two others have trophies named after them. Mushtaq Ali and Vijay Hazare being those in question.

The first-ever player to achieve this feat was Mushtaq Ali for Holkar against Bombay in 1944/45 in a match that they ultimately lost by 374 runs. Hazare followed him in achieving that feat five years later. Hanumant Singh for Rajasthan and Surinder Khanna for Delhi were the others to have achieved that feat before Sachin Tendulkar, who scored it in the 1994/95 final.