As the Indian cricket team gears up for the second ODI against South Africa, star batter Rohit Sharma is on the brink of a remarkable international career milestone. Fresh off a composed half-century in the previous match, Sharma has accumulated 19,959 runs from 503 international appearances. He needs just 41 runs in the upcoming fixture to breach the 20,000-run mark, a feat only three other Indian players have accomplished. This places him among the cricketing elite globally, being the fourteenth player to achieve this number.
Sharma also has his sights set on surpassing the South African legend AB de Villiers, who has 20,014 international runs. A score of 56 or more will see Sharma move ahead of the former Proteas captain. The anticipation doesn’t stop there, as Sharma is also close to significant home-ground achievements. He currently boasts 4,924 ODI runs on Indian soil and 8,991 overall international runs within the country. Reaching 76 more ODI runs at home or 9 more international runs in India would mark these important personal bests. He is also in contention to overtake Rahul Dravid’s 9,004 international runs scored in India, requiring just 14 runs for this specific accomplishment.