3 Indian players with the highest runs in T20Is

The first ever T20I took place on the 17th of February 2005 between Australia and New Zealand, at Eden Park in Auckland. While this format didn't automatically become a fan favourite, two years later it reached a new altitude with the first T20I World Cup held in South Africa.

Little did we know that the tournament was going to change the cricketing landscape in India. After MS Dhoni's men famously won the final, beating Pakistan by a mere 5 runs, T20 cricket became a rage in the country.

Thanks to that victory, the BCCI introduced IPL to the world, which today has not only helped the Indian Team but also international teams in finding match-winners.

Today, India have one of the if not the best playing XI in the shortest format. This can be seen from the fact that India have been successful in winning 69 out of the 107 matches they have played.

Many of these spectacular wins have come thanks to the star-studded batting line-up. Here are the three Indian batsmen with the highest runs in the shortest format of the game.

#3 Suresh Raina

Suresh Raina, who usually bats down the order, does not receive too many balls to play with. That is why, despite his ability to hit big from the word 'go', he enters this list only at No. 3 with a total of 1,605 T20I runs.

Raina, who made his T20 debut all the way back in 2006 against South Africa (which was actually India's first ever T20I match), has an average of 29.18 along with a strike rate of 134.87. He also has one century under his belt, which he achieved when he scored his magnificent 101.

Over the last couple of years, Raina's place has not been fixed in the team. While he tried multiple times to make a comeback, he was not able to grab his opportunities, which has resulted in the fact that the last T20I he played was on the 8th of July against England.

#2 Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli

The King himself comes into the list at No. 2 with 2,102 runs since his T20I debut in 2010 against Zimbabwe. The captain also has a whooping average of 48.88 and strike rate of 136.23.

With a high score of 90* against Australia in 2016, Virat Kohli used to be up at No. 1 before he was rested for the T20 series against West Indies and Rohit Sharma took the lead.

While Kohli has no centuries to his name, he has managed to stay not out in 15 out of the 58 innings he has played. That not only shows his temperament, but also his passion and dedication to be standing there and being the man who gets the team across the line.

He has also been an important part of the Indian team in all the T20 World Cups that he has taken part in, helping his team reach the finals in 2012 and 2014 and the semi-finals in 2016. He won the Man of the Tournament award in the 2014 and 2016 editions of the tournament.

#1 Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma

It should not come as a surprise that Rohit Sharma is topping this list. India's very own 'Hit-man' has a grand total of 2,207 runs in T20 Internationals, going past Virat Kohli in the series against West Indies, with an average of 33.44 and a strike rate of 138.37.

To add on to those magical numbers, the vice-captain of the team has accumulated a total of four centuries in T20Is, being the first and only batsmen yet to achieve this feat. The Mumbaikar has also scored the joint-fastest century in T20I cricket, during his knock of 118 against Sri Lanka.

Fun fact: Rohit Sharma is one of the very rare players to have played in all the six T20 World Cups that have been played so far.