Ind vs Eng T20: Rohit Sharma eclipses Martin Guptill, becomes 2nd highest run-scorer in T20Is after 64 against England – Rohit Sharma was on fire on Saturday against England in the 5th T20 with a quick-fire 64 off just 34 balls in Ahmedabad. That gave India the platform but in doing so, he also achieved a personal milestone. He eclipsed New Zealand’s Martin Guptill to become the second-highest run-scorer in T20Is. He is only behind India captain Virat Kohli.
Rohit Sharma has 2,864 runs in 103 innings while Guptill has scored 2,839 runs in 95 innings. Virat Kohli leads the way with 3,120 runs in 84 innings. India’s limited-overs vice-captain has an average of 32.54 in the T20Is.
He reached the milestone in style, hitting a six after he opened India innings with Virat Kohli for the first time in the T20Is. Kohli promoted himself up the order, dropping out-of-form KL Rahul.
Rohit, who did not have a great outing in the T20I series against England with 12 and 15 after being rested from the first two matches, was in the zone. He turned his beast mode on and hammered the like of Jofre Archer, Mark Wood and Chris Jordan. He scored his 22nd half-century in the shortest format off just 30 balls.
Before the match began, all Rohit needed was 40 runs to overtake Guptill and he was off to a great start and did not take long to get to the record. In the upcoming T20I series against Sri Lanka and South Africa, Rohit will have the chance to join Virat Kohli in the 3,000-run club in the T20Is.
He has another record in sight in the T20Is. If he hits six more sixes, he would surpass the Kiwi batsman Martin Guptill again to have hit most sixes in T20I career. Guptill has 139 sixes in his career, most by any batsmen in the world in T20Is. The two are followed by England T20I captain Eoin Morgan (113) and New Zealand’s Colin Munro (107).
Furthermore, two more half-centuries would also see him surpassing Virat Kohli to become the batsman with most fifties in T20Is. Virat Kohli has 28 half-centuries to Rohit Sharma’s 26. However, Rohit Sharma is the only batsman with four centuries in T20Is.