Rohit Sharma turns 37: Indian captain reveals origin of 'Hitman' nickname. Watch

Indian captain Rohit Sharma celebrated his 37th birthday on Tuesday. The right-handed opening batter, who made his international debut in 2007, is considered one of the finest batters in limited-overs cricket and nearly 10 years since the knock, holds the record for the highest individual score in ODIs- 264- that he made against Sri Lanka in Kolkata in November 2014.

However, apart from being the prolific batter that he is, there are other aspects to Sharma's personality that is equally popular among fans, one of them being his nickname-The 'Hitman'.

In 2019, the six-time Indian Premier League (IPL) winner had revealed how his nickname had come about and attributed it to a production person at sports broadcaster Star Sports.

"It is probably because my name is Rohit and there is 'hit' and of course, I am guy so 'Hitman'. But somebody in production house from Star, way back in 2013, his name is 'PD' he was the one, after I got my first double hundred I came down for an interview and he told me, "boss you are the hitman of this Indian cricket team, yaar". I said okay thanks. "
"That was the first time that I ever heard the word 'Hitman' and then after that, it was picked up by a few commentators and it was spoken on air and that is how it started to grow with others," Sharma had said in a video, as part of one of the questions that was most searched by fans on the internet.

Sharma will play for his IPL franchise Mumbai Indians on his birthday, as the team looks to get to back to winning ways when they take on Lucknow Super Giants in Lucknow on Tuesday.