3 Rohit Sharma records in T20Is that could be broken soon

Rohit Sharma has made a habit of breaking records in international cricket. He has been in such mind-boggling form lately that he has started making limited overs batting look like child's play.

Today was one such occasion where he kept breaking record after record. The New Zealand captain won the toss and elected to bat first, and thanks to Kunal Pandya's special spell, who bagged three wickets, the hosts were restricted 158 in 20 overs. Only Ross Taylor and Colin De Grandhomme played well for the Kiwis.

Chasing a modest target, India were off to a flying start and Rohit kept finding the boundary in almost every over. India reached the target without much trouble, and also leveled the three-match T20I series in the process.

During the course of his innings, the stand-in captain Rohit became the first Indian to smash 100 sixes in T20Is. He also became the leading run-getter in T20Is.

However, Rohit has healthy competition around him, which means that three of his T20I records could well be broken soon. Let's take a closer look at each one of those:

#3. Most fours in a single T20I innings by an Indian

Rohit Sharma has smashed 12 fours in a T20I innings twice

Rohit Sharma, along with KL Rahul, holds the record of hitting the most fours - 12 -by an Indian in a T20I innings. The Mumbai right-hander, however, has done this twice.

The first time was when he scored his maiden T20I century against South Africa in 2015. The next time he did it was when he scored another century, this time at Indore.

India might not be blessed with a lot of six-hitters currently, but there are a handful of players who can smash boundaries. The likes of Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan love playing ground shots, and both of them are yet to score a century in the shorter format.

It is possibly just a matter of time before Kohli and Dhawan get to their maiden T20I century. And when they do, they are likely to hit more than 12 fours in the innings.

#2. Most career runs in T20Is

Rohit Sharma became the leading run-scorer in T20Is during the second match against New Zealand

Rohit Sharma today went past Martin Guptill to become the leading run-scorer in T20Is, having notched up 2288 runs so far. The New Zealand opener is out of the current series due to an injury; if he had been playing, it would have been a nice little contest for the top spot.

There is also the Pakistani middle-order batsman Shoaib Malik, who is placed at number three with 2263 runs, and Virat Kohli, who is at number four with 2167. The difference between these four is not huge, and so Rohit would have to keep scoring heavily in T20Is. or else any one of these three batsmen might jump to the top spot.

There are not many T20Is left before the start of the World Cup, so Rohit's record might be safe for a few months. But not in the long run.

#1 Most 50+ scores in T20Is

Rohit Sharma is the first cricketer to score 20 fifty-plus scores in T20I

Before today Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were jointly at the top position for the most 50-plus scores in T20Is, with 19 each. Today, Rohit went past 50 runs a 20th time in the shortest format, which puts him solely at the top.

Kohli has 19 half-centuries, whereas Rohit has 16 half centuries and four centuries.

There has been a healthy competition between these two for a long time to grab the top spot on this elite list. Kohli has been rested for the T20I series, which means that Rohit could snatch the outright record without much trouble. However, Kohli is likely to make a comeback against Australia in the upcoming T20I series.

This means that Rohit has three opportunities, while Kohli has two opportunities, to grab the record until the World Cup 2019. Both are performing equally well in limited overs cricket these days, so even a couple of failures for Rohit could see Kohli go back to the top.