Leaving Virat Kohli behind, India captain Rohit Sharma created a new record on Saturday, in the second T20I against England at Edgbaston during his fiery knock of 31 runs off 20 balls that gave the visitors a brisk start.
Rohit Sharma stroked 3 fours and 2 sixes in his brilliant innings. With this, Sharma became the first Indian batsman to hit 300 fours in T20Is! He is only the second batsman in the world to do so; Ireland opener Paul Stirling leads the way with 325 fours in his T20I career so far.
Rohit becomes first India to hit 300 fours in T20Is
Rohit and Virat Kohli, in fact, had the same number of fours coming into the game – 298. But the opener raced first to the 300-boundary milestone with his 3 fours while Kohli had a forgettable outing as he was dismissed for just one run in three balls. Both the stalwart were dismissed by debutant seamer Richard Gleeson.
Kohli, thus, continues to sit at the third spot with 298 fours, followed by New Zealand’s Martin Guptill who has hit 287 fours.
In terms of sixes in T20Is, again Rohit Sharma is at the second spot – with 157 hits overs the fence; Guptill with 165 sixes is at the top. Kohli is well down the list with 92 maximums.
Rohit Sharma gives India a rapid start
Continuing from his momentum in the first match – where he scored 24 runs off 14 balls – Sharma cleared his intentions once again early on as he looked to attack David Willey.
Sharma played the first ball of the match by Willey cautiously but then looked to bludgeoned most deliveries after that. On the second ball only, he aimed for the legside boundary with a big swing but only managed an edge. On the last ball of the first over, Sharma struck it well, launching Willey for a maximum over fine leg to set the tone of the powerplay, which India ended at 61/1.
Sharma’s battled with Willey continued in the third over with the opener once again thumping a maximum, a full ball outside off dispatched over long-off. Moeen Ali, who had dismissed Sharma in the previous encounter, was brought on in the fourth over. This time, though, the Indian skipper had his revenge as he walloped the off-spinner for two boundaries in an over.
Rohit whipped Gleeson for a four more but the debutant stormed back with a short delivery that took the glove of the batsman while he was hurried in his pull shot and Jos Buttler took a good diving catch.
