Is Rohit Sharma the second best ODI opener of all time?

[Teja.]

After SRT?

My answer five years ago would be Mark Waugh with Gilchrist, Anwar, Ganguly etc. in contention but the case for Rohit is becoming undeniable.

Rohit now averages 59 with a SR of 91 as an opener in ODIs which is just nuts.

Amla who has also played in this era averages 49 with a SR of 88 to be fair but a difference of 10 runs in average is still big league.

I don’t watch much LO cricket and I’m largely going by stats here so happy to be corrected.

 

[harsh.ag]

Jayasuriya still 2nd imo.

Rohit maybe 3rd now. But he's got stiff competition, not only from Gilly, but Warner as well.

 

[Malcolm]

59 at 91 over a span of 6 years is brilliant. I don't think he is as good as Waugh or Anwar but I'd say he is better than Amla, Ganguly.
IMO Warner is the best opener of this era.

 

[h_hurricane]

He is certainly the second best indian opener of all time. In my all time indian team, he would open with Sachin. If I want to somehow bring Sehwag into this team (love him so much for his attacking batting), I would bat Sachin at 4.

There are plenty of openers in debate for the second best opener of all time. Waugh, Gilly, Anwar etc. Rohit is certainly in discussion now.

 

[Malcolm]

My problem with Rohit is that he is a slow starter. IIRC he strikes at 65 or so in PP1.

 

[mr_mister]

Was surprised his average as an opener was 10 runs higher than his career average, he spent quite a while in the middle order didn't he


But yeah during this cup him scoring big seems like a certainty everytime he walks out to bat

 

[OverratedSanity]

He's certainly doing his reputation no harm this WC. A double in the SF would be sweet.

He is certainly the second best indian opener of all time. In my all time indian team, he would open with Sachin. If I want to somehow bring Sehwag into this team (love him so much for his attacking batting), I would bat Sachin at 4.

There are plenty of openers in debate for the second best opener of all time. Waugh, Gilly, Anwar etc. Rohit is certainly in discussion now.

Tendulkar is basically Sehwag's attacking ability+ solidity and consistency. You dont need Viru at all in an AT Indian XI.

 

[stephen]

Stats for batsmen are getting more and more meaningless in ODI cricket. The bat is definitely more powerful than the ball right now.

Having said that, you don't put up numbers like Rohit has without being an ATG player.

To tell you the truth his game is extremely well suited to this era where batsmen give themselves time to play themselves in during the first 20 overs.

 

[vcs]

His stats as opener are pretty damn impressive TBH. His average must be approaching 50 even though he had an absolute horror run in 2012, and was very mediocre/inconsistent between 2008 (when he debuted) upto Champions Trophy 2013, which is when he was promoted to open IIRC. Was always in and out of the team upto that point.

 

[vcs]

His stats as opener are pretty damn impressive TBH. His average must be approaching 50 even though he had an absolute horror run in 2012, and was very mediocre/inconsistent between 2008 (when he debuted) upto Champions Trophy 2013, which is when he was promoted to open IIRC. Was always in and out of the team upto that point.

I meant his overall career average, his stats as opener alone must be approaching roughly 60@90.

 

[ankitj]

It's still Gordon Greenidge for me. But Rohit Sharma is getting there.

 

[Burgey]

If he's behind Tendulkar then the best he can be is third.

 

[ankitj]

Rohit has the best average as opener for anyone with 2000+ runs. Holy ****.

Batting records | One-Day Internationals | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPNcricinfo.com

 

[OverratedSanity]

Unlike tests, odis have changed too much in very a short span of time making it too difficult to compare stats across eras. Everyone's putting up ludicrous numbers.

 

[Burgey]

It's still Gordon Greenidge for me. But Rohit Sharma is getting there.

Haynes was a better ODI opener than Greenidge.

 

[ankitj]

Haynes was a better ODI opener than Greenidge.

Disagree.

 

[Pap Finn Keighl]

Rohit can replace Brian Lara in my AT 11 if he maintains the quality next couple of years.

 

[vcs]

Unlike tests, odis have changed too much in very a short span of time making it too difficult to compare stats across eras. Everyone's putting up ludicrous numbers.

It is hard to meaningfully compare him with players from the '80s and '90s as the absolute numbers that players put up these days are ludicrous, however, like Kohli, Sharma is also comfortably outperforming his peers from the same era (guys like Guptill, Dhawan, Warner etc.) so he is definitely in the conversation.

 

[Teja.]

Rohit has the best average as opener for anyone with 2000+ runs. Holy ****.

Batting records | One-Day Internationals | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPNcricinfo.com

He has an average over 9 runs higher than the second best person on the list of all batsman who have scored 6000+ runs as an opener.

The same holds true even if filter for 2000+ runs.

His average is literally 50% (20 runs) better than Waugh/Ganguly/Anwar/Gilchrist over a large sample size. Even accounting for era differences I don’t think the number of runs per innings in this era have increased anywhere close to 50%.

He also averages 10-15 runs more than any of the other openers of his era and st least has a comparable if not higher SR. This is over a huge sample size of 6000+ runs and none of the other contenders in this era have a massive sample size differential which makes average non-comparable.

His death grip over opening in this era seems to be similar to SRT’s from 93-2000.

I think his exploits are sort of overshadowed by Kohli being better than him during the same period.

 

[harsh.ag]

Warner is probably better than him though. Because he scores faster initially, so it hurts less if he gets out for a 30-40.