Australia vs India 2018-19: Shikhar Dhawan breaks Virat Kohli's record of most T20I runs in a calendar year

India's tour of Australia has got off to a losing start, but there is some good news for the visitor camp: Shikhar Dhawan is now the hold of the record for the most T20I runs scored in a calendar year.

The first T20I, played at Brisbane, saw Indian captain Virat Kohli winning the toss and choosing to bowl first. The Australian batting was looking quite dangerous before rain interrupted the game.

A fine partnership between Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis helped the Australian team reach 158 in 17 overs. But due to the rain delay, the match was turned into a 17-over contest, with India being given a target of 174 according to the DLS method.

Maxwell had scored 46 runs off just 24 balls. He had hit four sixes, three of which came in a single over off Krunal Pandya.

Team India did not have a good start as Rohit Sharma departed early after scoring only 7 runs. But Shikhar Dhawan kept hitting boundaries at the other end, which kept India in the game.

Dhawan ended up scoring 76 runs off 42 balls, with 10 fours and 2 sixes. In the end, India lost the match by just four runs.

However, Dhawan has achieved a new feat in T20Is; he has scored a total of 648 runs in T20Is this year. This is the most runs scored by any player in a single calendar year in the T20I format.

Dhawan has surpassed the record of Virat Kohli, who had scored 641 runs in T20Is in the year 2016.

Towards the end of the Indian innings, Dinesh Karthik showed some fighting spirit and scored a valuable 30 runs in 13 balls, which contained 4 fours and 1 six. But as soon as Karthik got out in the last over, India's chances of winning the match also ended.