5 world records held by Rohit Sharma in T20 Internationals

Ever since he was promoted to open the batting in the 2013 edition of the Champions Trophy, Rohit Sharma has been a different beast in limited-overs cricket. During the first few years in his new role as an opener, Rohit played many memorable knocks but his inconsistency and a knack for playing bad shots let him down against high-quality attacks. But ever since the 2015 World Cup, he has taken his game to another level both in the 50-over and the 20-over format.

Rohit has scored a staggering 1,555 runs in T20 Internationals in the last four years, which is considerably higher than even Virat Kohli. Rohit is such a pleasure to watch when he is in free-flowing mode and he has thrived on the freedom to play shots while opening the batting in T20 internationals. Here are the few T20 records held by him.

#5 Most 50 plus scores: 21

Rohit Sharma has 21 fifty-plus scores in T20I

Rohit got to his 21st half-century with a pristine knock on a two-paced track against West Indies at Miami. It took him 88 innings to reach this mark while Virat Kohli is second on the list with 20 fifties in just 64 innings. But it must be noted that Rohit Sharma batted in the middle order during the initial stages of his career and hence had lesser time to build an innings.

#4 Fastest century in T20Is: 35 balls

Rohit Sharma holds the record for the joint-fastest century in T20Is

Rohit Sharma is one of the most destructive openers in the world. The Hitman has the ability to strike fear in the camp of the opposite team as he can make a mockery of any bowler on his day. The right-handed batsman jointly holds the record for the fastest century in the T20 Internationals with David Miller.

Rohit Sharma who was the captain on that day brought up his century in just 35 balls against a hapless Sri Lanka. At one stage, fans thought that the Indian captain might go on to score a double century because of the breakneck pace at which he was scoring but Rohit Sharma got out for 118.

The Hitman scored 118 runs off 43 balls in an innings which included 12 fours and 10 huge sixes. In that innings, Rohit Sharma scored runs at a strike-rate of 274, as he set up a great platform for the team. Other Indian batsmen made full use of it and scored 260 in the first innings.

#3 Most 100 plus scores: 4

Rohit scored his record 4th T20I Century against West Indies

Rohit Sharma currently holds the record for most centuries in T20I with four hundreds to his name while Glenn Maxwell and Colin Munro are in the second place with three centuries each. Rohit’s first century in T20I came in a losing cause against a strong South African bowling attack. He scored 106 off 66 balls and became the second Indian after Suresh Raina to score a century in T20I.

His second century will forever be etched in history books as he destroyed the Lankan attack and took just 35 balls to reach the milestone. He shares the record for the fastest T20I hundred ever with David Miller.

His best-ever T20 knock came against England at Bristol while chasing a steep target of 199, he calculated this knock to perfection as every bad ball was punished. He even played second fiddle to Pandya during the later stages and remained unbeaten at the end of the chase. His record-breaking fourth century came against West Indies at the Lucknow as he helped his team post a total of 195/2 in 20 overs.

#2 Most Sixes: 107

Rohit is the only Indian to hit 100+ sixes in T20I

When Rohit started his career, he was praised highly for his crispy strokeplay but few would have thought that he would one day hold the record for most maximums. Even though T20 is a power hitter’s game, Rohit Sharma has the ability to clear the ropes with ease without putting too much power into the shot. He played a beautiful one legged flick off Keemo Paul in the second T20I to go past Chris Gayle who has 105 sixes.

He registered one more off Sunil Narine in the same game by pulling the ball to the deep midwicket region. Since Martin Guptill has 103 sixes, we can expect a tug of war between him and Sharma for the top spot in the upcoming months. But the real threat to this record is another big-hitting Kiwi opener Colin Munro who has 92 in just 49 innings and has a lot of time in his career to reach Rohit’s record.

#1 Most runs: 2,422

Rohit Sharma the leading run-scorer in T20I

Since the end of 2015 World Cup, Rohit Sharma has become a run machine in T20 internationals as he tops the list for most runs scored in the format in the last four years. Though Virat Kohli has a much higher average, Rohit’s ability to play a long innings has given him a significant advantage in this format. His record away from home in T20s is outstanding as he has scored 1,705 runs at an average of 34.79 with a century against England at Bristol.

When it comes to chasing, he has 1,009 runs at an average of 27 and strike rate of 126.75. Virat Kohli leads the chasing pack as expected with a monstrous average of 78 and strike rate of 132. Rohit was the highest run-scorer in this format last year with 590 runs at a strike rate of 147.