With the ICC Cricket World Cup around the corner, fans began praising India captain Rohit Sharma for his recent exploits on the field.

In recent months, the Nagpur-born cricketer has accomplished multiple milestones, including “the first Indian to hit 350 sixes, 400 sixes, 450 sixes, 500 sixes & 550 sixes in international cricket.”

He has smashed the most sixes in a calendar year by an Indian captain – 49 sixes from 26 innings in 2023.

Rohit Sharma is the only captain in Asia (minimum 1000 runs) with a 50+ average and 100+ strike rate in ODI history.

Earlier this week, Rohit Sharma scripted history in the third ODI against Australia in Rajkot.

Rohit Sharma began India's run chase explosively, smashing a quickfire 81 off 57 balls after Australia won the toss and posted 352/7 on the board.

Rohit Sharma's splendid innings included five boundaries and six sixes.

As the Nagpur-born cricketer's knock featured six maximums, Rohit Sharma shattered the record for most sixes in a single nation. Currently, he has 257 sixes to his name in India.

Previously, this record was with New Zealand opener Martin Guptill, who struck 256 sixes in his home country.

The other men who have smashed more than 200 sixes in a single country are Martin Guptill's New Zealand colleague Brendon McCullum (230) and Chris Gayle (228).

During his knock, Rohit Sharma also became the quickest to reach the landmark of 550 sixes across formats in international cricket.

While West Indies great Chris Gayle required 548 essays to accomplish the milestone, Rohit Sharma took only 471 innings to get there.

However, Chris Gayle still holds the record for hitting the maximum sixes in international cricket, having smoked 553 during his illustrious career. Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma follows him close behind with 551 sixes.

Among other milestones Rohit Sharma achieved in Rajkot was becoming the fifth Indian batter to score a half-century in the initial ten overs of a 50-over contest.

Before Rohit Sharma, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, and Robin Uthappa had attained the feat in One-Day Internationals.

Also, Rohit Sharma is the first batter to smash five sixes against the Australian's frontline bowling line-up featuring Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, and Josh Hazlewood.

Meanwhile, India's final 15-men squad for the ICC Cricket World Cup saw the dramatic entry of veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on Thursday.

Ravichandran Ashwin got his opportunity at the expense of the injured Axar Patel.

But his inclusion in India's ODI World Cup squad in place of the injured Axar Patel led to a wild conspiracy theory by an Indian cricket pundit.

According to the bombshell claim made by cricket columnist Ayaz Memon, Indian captain Rohit Sharma was aware of Axar Patel's situation for multiple weeks.

He even knew that the Gujarat cricketer would not be fit for the World Cup, yet the Indian team management continued to peddle lies about Axar Patel's fitness.

Additionally, the Team India think tank comprising Rohit Sharma and head coach Rahul Dravid realized that three left-arm spinners were just too many, and they needed someone of Ravichandran Ashwin's experience in the line-up.

“Injured Axar Patel out of WC, replaced by Ashwin. This was approved some weeks back but team management shrewdly threw everyone off the scent. 3 left arm spinners in squad was one too many. Also, no one's performed better on Indian pitches than Ash. Team looks complete now,” Ayaz Memon said in a social media post.

India will kickstart their World Cup campaign with a tense encounter with five-time champions Australia in Chennai on October 8.

The legendary Sunil Gavaskar and former India pacer Irfan have named their Indian playing XI for the game against the Kangaroos.

“In any team, the top-three batters are quite important. A good start from the openers helps the others that follow to play freely. The contribution from the opening pair is going to crucial. You may pick three fast bowlers – Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah,” Sunil Gavaskar told Star Sports.

“If they want to go with two seamers since they already have Hardik Pandya then an extra spinner can be included. You can have Ashwin in the eleven,” the former India captain added.

Irfan Pathan opined that India should play with five frontline bowlers against Australia and not gamble with all-rounders.

“I agree with the top-seven. (But) I want the Indian team to go with proper five bowlers. You have Hardik as sixth bowler but you should go with bowlers having wicket-taking abilities. The pitches you will get now, there's a possibility of dew so then you need to have a solid bowling throughout the world cup,” Irfan Pathan noted.

“So go with main bowlers be it three fast bowlers that include Siraj, Shami and Bumrah. If you want someone to team up with Kuldeep Yadav then go with a proper bowler in Jadeja if it's on a turning track. Go with proper bowlers who only think about wickets. Your top-7 batters can take care of the runs,” he summed up.