Sharma breaks Akram’s 23-year-old record

The 32-year-old also became the first batsman to hit two tons in his first match as a Test opener

PHOTO: AFP/Reuters

India’s opener Rohit Sharma has broken the Men in Green’s legendary cricketer Wasim Akram’s record of hitting the maximum number of sixes in a Test match.

Sharma on Saturday struck a second successive hundred in his debut as Test opener to help India set South Africa a daunting 395 to win the opening match of the three-match Test series in Visakhapatnam.

The 32-year-old hit seven sixes during the second innings, bringing his total number of sixes in the match to 13, which is the most in a Test, breaking Akram's record of 12.

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Akram set the record during his unbeaten knock of 257 against Zimbabwe in Sheikhupura in 1996.

Sharma, who made 176 in India's first innings of 502, also became the first batsman to hit two tons in his first match as a Test opener.

Sharma has hit a total of 45 sixes in 28 Test matches, along with 232 sixes in One-day Internationals (ODIs) and 109 in T20 Internationals (T20Is).