After India captain Rohit Sharma played a sensational unbeaten knock of 51 runs off 28 deliveries against Bangladesh in the second ODI, his tweet from 2019 during the ICC ODI World Cup gained a lot of traction on social media.

“I don't just walk out for my Team. I walk out for my country,” Rohit Sharma had written in the caption of his post along with a picture of him leaving the dressing room in Team India's blue jersey.

The tweet resurfaced after Rohit Sharma came out to bat with a dislocated thumb that needed many stitches in the second match of the three-game ODI series against Bangladesh on Wednesday. While his valiant effort eventually went in vain as India lost the match by a slender margin of 5 runs, Rohit Sharma's brave act garnered much appreciation from the fans and critics alike.

 

Batting first, Bangladesh found themselves on the ropes at 6/69 with India dominating the proceedings with the assistance of Washington Sundar's three wickets.

However, just when it looked like India was running away with the game, a blistering 148-run stand between Mahmudullah and Mehidy Hasan Miraz brought Bangladesh back into the game. After Mahmudullah perished for 77 in the 47th over, Mehidy Hasan Miraz gave the final push to the Bangladesh innings as 54 runs came off the last 23 balls.

Mehidy Hasan Miraz remained unbeaten on 100 off 83 deliveries and was the main hero of the Bangladeshi comeback.

In reply, Rohit Sharma and co found themselves in a deep hole at 4/65 with Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, and KL Rahul all back in the hut. Their problems were further accentuated due to Rohit Sharma's unavailability at the top of the order, the reason being a thumb injury.

A 107-run partnership between Shreyas Iyer and Axar Patel stopped the rut but the asking rate kept mounting. Moments later, Team India was on the verge of defeat with the score reading 213/8. Just when everyone thought that the match was over, there was another twist in the tale as an injured Rohit Sharma walked into bat.

Despite the injury concern, Rohit Sharma played a courageous knock as he began to hit the ball all over the ground and brought the equation down to 20 runs at the end of the 49th over.

With 20 needed to win the game in the final over, Rohit Sharma clobbered the second and third deliveries for boundaries, however, what made the situation tough for him was the dot ball Mustafizur Rahman bowled on the fourth.

With two sixes required to win India the match, Rohit Sharma struck the fifth delivery of the 50th over for a maximum but then Mustafizur Rahman produced an unplayable yorker on the last ball to claim a stunning victory.

Though Rohit Sharma failed to take India over the line, he did manage to script a new world record in the match. During his innings, he smashed 5 sixes, becoming the first Indian batter to achieve the milestone of 500 sixes in international cricket.

Rohit smashed his 500th maximum off the bowling of Mahmudullah followed by another six in the 49th over.

Overall, Rohit Sharma now has 502 sixes in 428 fixtures in international cricket, becoming just the second batter after Chris Gayle to breach the 500-six barrier at the sport's grandest stage.

While Chris Gayle registered a total of 553 sixes in 483 international games during his illustrious career, Rohit Sharma needed 19 games less to reach the landmark. This made him the quickest to 500 sixes in international cricket. Chris Gayle hit his 500th six in his 447th appearance for the West Indies.

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Meanwhile, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) gave an update on the extent of Rohit Sharma's injury.

“The BCCI Medical Team assessed him and he underwent scans at a local hospital in Dhaka. He has flown to Mumbai for specialist consultation and will miss the final ODI. A call on his availability for the upcoming Test series will be taken later,” BCCI secretary Jay Shah said in a press release on Friday.

On the other hand, the legendary Virender Sehwag mocked Team India following their ODI series defeat to Bangladesh.

“Cryptos se bhi tez gir rahi hai apni performance yaar. Need to shake up – wake up,” Virender Sehwag tweeted.

Like Virender Sehwag, former India fast bowler Venkatesh Prasad blasted the Men in Blue for their approach in ODIs and urged the country's cricketing body, BCCI, to make some much-needed changes to the squad.

“India is innovating in so many fields across the world. But when it comes to playing limited-overs cricket, our approach is a decade old. England after the 2015 WC first-round exit took tough calls and turned around to become such an exciting team, India need to take tough calls,” Venkatesh Prasad wrote on Twitter.

“And change approach drastically. We haven’t won a T20 WC since the IPL started & last 5 years have been poor in ODIs apart from winning inconsequential bilateral. Haven’t learned from our mistakes for too long and far from being an exciting team in limited-overs cricket. CHANGE,” he added.