Rohit Sharma's ODI Batting record in top 8 cricketing nations including Pakistan
Rohit Sharma was a phenomenon in the domestic circuit even before he debuted for India in the League match of Inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007. Rohit was also the first player to score 3 consecutive fifties in Youth world cup 2006. This brought him enough recognition among the cricketing circles and his stellar performances led to his selection into the senior team in 2007 for the T20 World cup, when selectors decided to cultivate youth into the side at the expense of aging seniors.
He made his international debut in that historic match versus England where he did not get a chance to bat due to the heroics of Yuvraj Singh who hit 6 sixes on that night. He got a chance to bat in the next game against the hosts of that world cup South Africa as and scored an impressive 50 of 40 balls in his maiden international innings against the likes of Shaun Pollock, Makhaya Ntini, Morne Morkel, and Vernon Philander.
After a Victorius campaign in that world cup, he had continued his good form in the CB series in Australia which resulted in another series victory for India and he was considered the next big thing in Indian cricket.
But his performances started to deceive from that point as he struggled for consistency all over the world. He continued his lean run of form till the end of 2012 when he reached the lowest point in his career as he scored paltry 13 runs in 5 matches against Sri Lanka. After his persisted failures in the middle order, Dhoni decided to give him one last chance by promoting him to the top order as an opener in the 4th match of 2012 series against England.
Rohit Sharma immediately repaid the faith shown by his skipper as he scored 83 runs in his first innings as an opener to take India home in a chase of 258. And the rest, as they say, is history. That tactical change made by Dhoni proved to be a monumental masterstroke as it lead to the dawn of career of one of the best ODI openers of all time.
Now let's take a look at the batting record of Rohit Sharma in Different Countries :
let's start with India -
1) In India: Matches - 49, Runs - 2508 | Avg - 59.71 |Strike rate - 100.11|Highest score - 264
2) In Pakistan: Matches - 6 | Runs - 116 | Avg - 29 |Strike rate - 72.5| Highest score - 58 ( He did not play any bilateral series in Pakistan and these 6 matches were part of 2008 Asia cup held in Pakistan)
3) In Australia: Matches - 27 | Runs - 1143 | Avg - 51.95 | Strike rate - 90.14 | Highest score - 171*
4) In England: Matches - 16 | Runs - 687 | Avg - 57.25| Strike rate - 82.87 | Highest score - 137*
5) In West Indies: Matches - 14 | Runs - 489 | Avg - 54.33 | Strike rate - 72.55 | Highest score - 86*
6) In New Zealand: Matches - 9 | Runs - 268 | Avg - 38.28| Strike rate - 73.82 | Highest score - 79
7) In South Africa: Matches - 14 | Runs - 256 | Avg - 19.69| Strike rate - 68.44 | Highest score - 115
8) In Sri Lanka: Matches - 26 | Runs - 583 | Avg - 25.34| Strike rate - 84.24 | Highest score - 124*
This gives an overview of Rohit Sharma's performances over the years in different countries. He has a dismal record in countries like Sri Lanka and South Africa because of his failures in the initial part of his career when he was still in the middle order.
He has rectified that to some extent in the recent years when he scored centuries in both the countries after becoming an opener. It is quite clear from above that he is a world class performer in ODI format.
*Stats source - espncricinfo*