New York: Rohit Sharma had a fantastic start to the T20 World Cup. Barring the blow he suffered on his shoulder, which also forced him to retire hurt as a precautionary measure, the Indian captain had a field day against Ireland at the Nassau Cricket Stadium in New York on Wednesday. Rohit was spot-on in his decision-making right from the onset and then led from the front with a sparkling half-century in the chase to help India get off to a winning start in the T20 World Cup.
Rohit scored 52 off 37 balls – the only man to go past the 50-run mark at the newly built venue – with three sixes before deciding to walk off the field with a sore right shoulder. His innings laid the foundation for India’s easy eight-wicket win. If that was not enough, Rohit notched up a few significant milestones with the bat and as the captain.
He became the first cricketer to hit 600 sixes in international cricket. Rohit’s six tally currently stands at 600 in just 427 matches. He is followed by Chris Gayle (553 sixes in 483 matches) and Shahid Afridi (476 sixes in 524 matches).
Rohit also crossed the 4000-run mark in T20Is, becoming only the second batter after Virat Kohli to score more than 4000 runs in all three formats of the game. Rohit also notched up 1000 runs at the T20 World Cup, the second Indian after Kohli.
When Rishabh Pant hit the winning six, Rohit also became India’s most successful T20I captain. He went past MS Dhoni’s win-tally as captain in T20Is. Rohit now has 42 wins as captain in 55 T20Is, going past Dhoni’s 41 (Super Over wins not counted) in 73. Rohit’s win percentage (77.29) is also significantly higher than Dhoni’s (59.28). Kohli has 30 wins as captain in 50 T20Is.
