"45 Special" - Chris Gayle congratulates Rohit Sharma on breaking his record for most international sixes

Team India captain Rohit Sharma surpassed West Indies legend Chris Gayle for the most sixes in international cricket.

That came as the right-handed batter smashed five sixes during his century against Afghanistan in the World Cup match in Delhi on Wednesday, October 11. Sharma reached the landmark (555 sixes) after hitting three sixes to eclipse Gayle's tally (553 sixes).

On the special occasion, Gayle congratulated Rohit Sharma for the record and pointed out that the Indian skipper has the same number as Gayle in international cricket. He captioned the post on X (formerly Twitter) while tagging Sharma:

"Congrats, Most Sixes in International cricket. #45 Special."

In the match, Rohit Sharma smashed 131 runs off 84 balls, including five maximums and 16 boundaries, as India beat Afghanistan by eight wickets. It was his 31st ODI century.

During his knock, Sharma also broke Sachin Tendulkar's record for most centuries in World Cup. He also became the fastest to score a hundred (63 balls) by an Indian in the marquee ICC event. The 36-year-old also completed 1,000 runs in the World Cup, the third Indian after Tendulkar and Virat Kohli.

In a recent interview, Rohit Sharma said that he couldn’t even fathom the feeling if he broke Gayle’s record. He was quoted as saying on Vimal Kumar’s YouTube channel:

"(On the record for most sixes) It will be a unique record if it happens. I can’t even fathom that I can break Chris Gayle’s record. It is funny."

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"Very important to get that momentum at the start of the tournament" – Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma, who was adjudged Player of the Match, was delighted with consecutive wins in the World Cup ahead of the high-voltage game against Pakistan on October 14.

He said:

"Was a good win for us. Very important to get that momentum at the start of the tournament. It is about absorbing pressure and taking the right decision on the field. There will be a spell from the opposition where you will have to absorb pressure. Leading up to the tournament, we had played such games."

He added:

"You have got players with different skill sets in our team. They bring different attributes of the game to the team and it puts you in good positions as a team, when you have that. We have got guys who can play fearless cricket with bat and guys who can absorb like the last game."

Rohi Sharma and Co. previously beat Australia by six wickets as Virat Kohli (85) and KL Rahul (97*) shared a match-winning partnership at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

Click here to check out the IND vs AFG 2023 World Cup full scorecard.