3 records Rohit Sharma can break in 2020

Rohit Sharma has been going from strength to strength in white-ball cricket in the last five years and he is not too far away from achieving legendary status in ODIs and T20Is.

As he is piling on the runs in the limited-over formats of the game, the Indian vice-captain has been breaking and creating quite a few records as well.

At 32 years of age, Rohit is now at the peak of his career and he can be expected to continue his heavy run-scoring streak in all formats of the game for the next couple of years. Rohit has the opportunity to create some new national and world records in 2020.

Here are the three records Rohit Sharma can break in 2020 –

#1 Most T20I matches

Shoaib Malik

Rohit already holds the record of playing the most number of T20I matches for India and he can create that record at the world level as well.

The right-handed batsman has played 104 T20Is so far, which is only seven less than the tally of Shoaib Malik, who is leading the chart in terms of playing the most number of T20Is in world cricket.

Also see – U19 world cup points table

Although Rohit has been rested for the ongoing T20I series against Sri Lanka, he is expected to feature regularly for India after the series.

India’s T20 squad against Sri Lanka: Virat Kohli (Capt), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer,Manish Pandey, Sanju Samson, Rishabh Pant (wk), Shivam Dube, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav,Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Navdeep Saini, Jasprit Bumrah, Washington Sundar#INDvSL

— BCCI (@BCCI) December 23, 2019

The Men in Blue have to play 17 more T20I games after the series against Sri Lanka and before the T20 World Cup later this year. If Rohit remains injury-free, he should be able to go past Malik’s tally with ease.

Malik has not retired from T20I cricket for Pakistan, but he seems to have fallen out of favour with the Pakistani selectors, who are handing opportunities to youngsters. The former Pakistani captain looks unlikely to add to his tally of 111 T20Is that he has played so far.

#2 Most Sixes in T20 World Cups by an Indian

Yuvraj Singh and Rohit Sharma

Rohit is one of the best stroke-players around at the moment. The ease with which he hits sixes, both against pace and spin, is just incredible. His sixes are a result of pure timing.

The way he shifts his weight against the fast bowlers to play the lofted pull shots, and the manner in which he comes down the track against the spinners to hit them straight down the ground is a treat to watch.

Rohit has hit 24 sixes in the 28 games that he has played in the T20 World Cups so far. The record of hitting the most number of sixes in T20 World Cups by an Indian is currently held by former Indian all-rounder Yuvraj Singh, who hit 33 sixes in 31 games.

There is certainly a possibility of Rohit hitting 10 sixes in the T20 World Cup later this year in Australia and breaking Yuvraj’s record.

#3 Hundred sixes against one opponent

Rohit Sharma vs Australia

Although Rohit hits sixes against every opposition he comes across, Australia are one team who have had to face the wrath of the Indian vice-captain plenty of times.

Rohit has so far played 61 matches against Australia across all three formats of the game and has hit 93 sixes against them.

India will play three ODIs against Australia in January, three T20Is against them in October and then three Test matches against them towards the end of the year, with the fourth match of the Test series being scheduled to take place in January 2021.

If Rohit plays all these games, he will have a maximum of 18 innings (three ODI innings, three T20I innings, and six Test innings) to complete 100 sixes against Australia. If he is in form and batting well, it shouldn’t be a difficult task for him.

So far, it’s only Chris Gayle who holds the record of hitting 100 or more sixes against one opponent. The West Indies left-hander has hit 130 sixes against England in 69 games.