8 coincidences between Sachin Tendulkar and Rohit Sharma that you never knew

The Indian Cricket has a rich and long tradition that started before independence. The Indian Cricket team always had some torchbearers in the team who carried the team on their shoulders. Unfortunately, it had also paved way for illicit comparisons. Irrespective of the comparisons, the players have been unique in their own.

Among them, Sachin Tendulkar holds a special place in our hearts for changing the face of Indian cricket in his period. When people thought Indian cricket would face a downfall once he left, players like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have made sure India needn’t cross that downfall. Surprisingly, on analysis, it’s found that Rohit Sharma holds some coincidence with Sachin rather than Virat Kohli with whom the demigod is compared with.

Interestingly, Sachin and Rohit have some striking relationship in their respective cricketing careers. Rohit received his first ODI and Test cap from Sachin. He captained Mumbai Indians for the first time on Sachin birthday which was in the year 2013. Also, Rohit got to open the innings for first time in ODI in 2011 and he played in the place of Sachin Tendulkar.

We now list you 8 striking coincidences between Sachin and Rohit that you never knew:

---

#1. Coincidence in captaincy

Sachin Tendulkar and Rohit Sharma are two sides of a coin when it comes to captaining the team. Sachin, who had a much successful career as a player was mediocre when it came to captaincy. On the other hand, Rohit has been a comparatively good captain. Nevertheless, both these players hold some similarity while captaining the national team.

Both Sachin and Rohit captained for the first time against Sri Lanka with the former doing it in 1996 while the latter did it earlier this year and both of them had to bite the dust in their first match as Captain. In the case of Sachin, Sri Lanka chased the target of 226 in 44 overs. In Rohit’s captaincy, India was bowled out for 112 and Srilanka chased it within 20 overs.

Sachin hit his first century as captain against Sri Lanka in 1996 with a fine knock of 110 which was also his first match as captain. Rohit also hit his first century while captaining against Sri Lanka in the absence of regular skipper Kohli when he reached the 200 run mark for the third time. He was unbeaten on 208 at the end of the innings. India defeated Sri Lanka by 141 runs after they failed to chase the daunting total of 392.

#2. Coincidence in One Day cricket

Sachin’s career got a flying start in the ’90s and he was in prime form during the ’90s which faced a minor slump later on. Contrastingly, Rohit’s career which started in 2007 was not at his best in his initial stage. He reached the peak only in the later stage when he was promoted to open the innings in 2013.

Both of them had hit double centuries in ODI’s with Rohit having three of them to his name while Sachin was the first to do so. Sachin’s double century against South Africa was also his highest score and India eventually won the match by 153 runs as South Africa were able to score only 248 while chasing India’s 401.

Rohit’s high score of 264 was against Sri Lanka, which was an absolute rampage by the hitman where he hit 33 boundaries and 9 sixes which was 65% of the total score of India. India went on to win the match by the same margin of 153 runs after Sri Lanka were bundled out for 251 while chasing India’s 404.

Sachin and Rohit have played some big innings in their career and have played innings that lasted all the 50 overs. Rohit and Sachin reached their 4th 150+ score against the same opponent which was the Australians.

Sachin’s score was 175 in 2009 while Rohit’s score was 171 in 2016 in those matches and sadly, India lost both the matches. Sachin guided the Indian innings while chasing Australia’s 351 in that match but India fell short by just 3 runs as he was dismissed at the crucial point. In the case of Rohit, Australia chased India’s score of 309 in 49.2 overs and India’s failure to capitalise over Rohit’s momentum at the death was the major reason for the loss.

#3. Coincidence when India scored 300

In the early stages of cricket, hitting a 300+ score in ODI was supposed to be a winning target and it happened once in a blue moon as bowlers were dominating which was the major reason for the same.

For 2 decades since the ODI setup began, India never had a 300+ ODI score. India reached the 300+ score for first time in ODI’s in 1996 and Sachin won the Man of the match for his century where he scored 118.

India won the match by 28 runs against the arch-rivals Pakistan. India became the first team to score a ton of 300’s when they scored 392-4 against Sri Lanka which happened last year. Rohit made a mockery of weak Sri Lankan bowling as he raced to his 3rd double century and eventually India won the match by a big margin of 141 runs. Like Sachin, He was also awarded the man of the match for his 208 of 153 balls.

#4. Coincidence in opening the innings

Sachin was a middle-order batsman who would play at 4th position in the team. Though he was successful as a middle-order batsman, Mohammad Azharuddin made him open the innings and he continued his excellence while opening as well.

Rohit, who first played down the order, had a poor start and he was promoted to the opening position which turned out to be a fruitful move. He made the most of it and is currently one of the best batsmen the country has.

Both of them scored their first century while opening against Australia. Sachin hit 110 in 1994 while Rohit hit 141* in 2013 against the same mighty Australians. Australia fell short by 31 runs and their huge total of 359 was chased in 43 overs in both the occasions respectively.

Also, Rohit and Sachin crossed the 5000 run mark as an opener against the same opponents. Sachin crossed it in 1998 while Rohit reached it after 20 years. Sachin has made 15310 runs in 340 innings while Rohit has made 5487 runs in 108 innings when they opened the innings.

#5. Coincidence in Test cricket

The longest form of cricket is touted as the toughest form of cricket. Debuting in test cricket is a difficult thing, shining and maintaining consistency in it is even a difficult thing for any player. As we all know Sachin was remarkable in Tests and has 15921 runs in the 200 Tests that he has played for India.

Rohit’s career in Tests hasn’t been successful so far. He debuted against Windies in the same series that Sachin retired in 2013. He has been in and out of the team as a result for his inconsistency. Rohit has scored 1479 in 25 Tests that he has represented for India.

Both of them crossed 1000 test runs in their 19th match. Sachin achieved this feat in the year 1992 against the Proteas while Rohit reached the mark in 2016 in the series against New Zealand and both being 3 years from the year of debut which is yet again an interesting coincidence.

#6. Coincidence in IPL

In the early years of IPL Mumbai Indians remained a silent team with occasional wins. But as the years proceeded, Mumbai Indians have evolved to become one of the strongest team in IPL and also has huge fan base across the country. Sachin and Rohit hold equal credits for this evolution and the fan base of the team. They have been the pillars of the team over these years.

Rohit and Sachin are the only Indian players from the team to score centuries. While Rohit’s century came against Kolkata Knight Riders, Sachin’s century was against Kochi Tuskers Kerala.

Another coincidence is that scores of Mumbai Indians in both these matches is 182 while Mumbai won the match by 27 runs in case of Rohit but they lost the match by 8 wickets.

They also share the similarity in their 500th and 1000th runs. Both of them reached 500 runs against Chennai Super Kings while Rajasthan Royals were their opponent when they reached the 1000 run mark.

Their opponents when they were duck out for the first time was Kolkata Knight Riders. What’s more mind-blowing is that both lasted only 3 balls and both of them were caught by the wicketkeeper. Their opponents in their second duck are also the same which was Royal Challengers Bangalore.

#7. Coincidence in IPL Captaincy

Shaun Pollock, Harbhajan Singh and Sachin Tendulkar were the captains for Mumbai Indians in the initial years of IPL. Among them, Sachin had a longer and fair run as an IPL captain although he couldn’t win a trophy for the time.

Ricky Ponting was made the captain in 2013 but due to his poor run, Rohit Sharma was given the job of captaining the team. He was made the regular captain in the following year. Since then Mumbai Indians have hardly looked back as they have clinched the title 3 times in the years 2013, 2015 and 2017.

Sachin and Rohit were both unbeaten in their first 3 matches while captaining the team and both of them faced their defeat in their 4th match. Kings XI Punjab defeated Mumbai by just 1 run in the case of Sachin while Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated them by 7 wickets in the case of Rohit Sharma.

Their record in captaincy after 51 matches is almost similar. Sachin’s record after 51 matches read 30 wins and 21 loss while Rohit’s captaincy record after 51 matches is 31 wins and 20 loss.

#8. Other Coincidences

Rohit, being considered as a disciple of Sachin by his fans shares some rare coincidences with the master. Sachin and Rohit are the only Indian batsmen to score 111 runs 3 times in International Cricket.

Sachin has reached 111 run mark 3 times and every time his opponents were South Africa. The years in which he reached the 111 scores are 1992,2010 and 2011. Rohit’s score of 111 has come against the West Indies and Pakistan. Windies were his opponents twice when he reached the mark in the years 2013 and 2018 while he scored 111 against Pakistan in the year 2018.

Also, Sachin and Rohit are the only players in Indian Cricket history to score 152 runs in an innings. Sachin scored against Namibia in 2013 while Rohit made it against Windies earlier this year.

These are just simple coincidences between 2 batsmen which is not for comparison as they are unique in their own way.

---

Send us news tips at [email protected]