Sharma made his One Day International (ODI) debut in 2007 against Ireland and his Test debut in November 2013 against the West Indies. He has scored over 8,500 runs in international cricket and is the only player to score three double centuries in ODIs. He is the third-highest run-scorer for India in ODIs and has the highest score of 264 runs, made against Sri Lanka in November 2014. He is the only batsman to have scored two centuries in the first innings of a Test match on two separate occasions. He is also the first Indian batsman to score a century in all three formats of international cricket. He holds the world record for the most runs scored off a single over in an ODI, having scored 102 runs off 36 ***** against Australia in 2013.

Sharma started his first-class career in 2006–07. In the 2007–08 Ranji Trophy, he was the leading run-scorer for his team with 641 runs at an average of 45.78. In February 2010, he was bought by the Mumbai Indians team for the 2010 Indian Premier League (IPL) for US$2 million, making him the most expensive player in the IPL at that time. He was appointed as the vice-captain of the Mumbai Indians team for the 2013 season. In the IPL, he has played over 150 matches and scored over 4,500 runs, making him the competition’s all-time leading run-scorer. He was the leading run-scorer of the 2015 IPL season and was awarded the Player of the Tournament. He has also been the recipient of the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Arjuna Award and Padma Shri, India’s fourth and fifth highest civilian honours respectively.