One of the finest cricketers of this generation and among the best white-ball batsman of all-time, Rohit Sharma celebrates his 33rd birthday. Rohit, who made his international debut in June 2007, has overseen a turnaround in his cricket career after being promoted as an opening batsman during the 2013 Champions Trophy. Since then the Hitman – as Rohit is popularly called – has hit three double hundreds in ODI cricket, four centuries in T20Is and became the first-ever to smash twin hundreds in his debut appearance as a Test opening batsman. Rohit is also currently the vice-captain of India’s limited-overs side and has also captained Indian Premier League (IPL) team Mumbai Indians to four IPL titles. Rohit Sharma Birthday Special: 264 vs Sri Lanka and Other Scintillating Knocks by the Hitman.

Rohit has smashed several records in his 363 international appearances so far. His swashbuckling and explosive batting without any single sign of aggression is often compared to batting great Sir Vivian Richards and Virender Sehwag. Sunil Gavaskar in a column once famously mentioned Rohit could be most destructive batsman in the world after Viv Richards and Virender Sehwag. As the Hitman celebrates his 33rd birthday, take a look at some lesser-known facts about Rohit Sharma. Rohit Sharma Posts Adorable Picture With Baby Samaira, Has a Special Message for Wifey Ritika Sajdeh.

  • Rohit Sharma was born to Gurunath and Purnima Sharma in Bansod, Nagpur on April 30, 1987

  • Sharma started as an off-spinner before His Coach Dinesh Lad noticed his batting ability and transformed him into a proper batsman

  • Rohit can converse fluently in four languages – English, Hindi, Marathi and Telugu

  • Sharma was first Indian to score a T20 Hundred on Indian soil when he did so in the 2006-07 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy

  • Rohit is the first Cricketer to win five IPL titles and fourth to have won a title with two different IPL teams

  • Rohit Sharma holds a unique record of not missing an IPL game for 11 straight years

  • He also has an IPL hat-trick to his name and he took it against Mumbai Indians when playing for Deccan Chargers

  • Sharma is the second cricketer to have scored a century in all three formats of cricket (Test, ODIs and T20Is) after Suresh Raina

  • He is the first Indian cricketer to appear in 100 T20I matches

  • Rohit is the first cricketer to hit five centuries in a single edition of the World Cup

Rohit has so far represented India in 224 Test matches, 107 T20Is and 32 Test matches for 9115, 2713 and 2141 runs respectively. He currently holds the record for the highest number of runs and most centuries in T20I cricket and also is the only batsman to smash three double hundreds in ODIs.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 30, 2020 06:00 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).