Sharma’s innings helped India recover after early dismissals of Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli. Despite a slow start of 8 runs from 28 balls, he accelerated his scoring with seven fours and two sixes, marking his slowest ODI fifty.
The veteran batsman achieved multiple milestones during his innings. He became the first Asian cricketer to hit 150 sixes in SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand, Australia) nations.
Sharma also became the first Indian to score 1000 runs in Australia against Australia in ODIs, excluding World Cup matches. He surpassed Sourav Ganguly’s record of 11,221 runs to become India’s third-highest run-scorer in ODIs with 11,249 runs.
The 37-year-old moved to fourth place in the list of opening batsmen with the most runs in ODIs, surpassing batting legends Sourav Ganguly and Adam Gilchrist.
His brief partnership with Virat Kohli marked their 100th time batting together in ODIs. The duo has accumulated 5,315 runs in these 100 innings.
Sharma’s performance at Adelaide Oval demonstrated his return to form after recent criticism. The third and final ODI of the series is scheduled for Saturday at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
