WI vs IND 2019: 3 records Rohit Sharma could break in this tour

India’s tour of West Indies is set to commence on 3rd August with the first T20I set to be played in Florida. This tour consists of 3 T20Is, 3 ODIs and 2 Test matches.

Post the semifinal exit from the 2019 World Cup, India would like to put up a dominant performance against the hosts. In order to do that, the top order, which did extremely well in the World Cup will need to deliver once again.

With the return of Shikhar Dhawan from injury, the Indian top-order looks solid as Rohit Sharma is in some scintillating form. He scored 648 runs in the recently concluded World Cup that included five hundred and he was the prime reason for India’s success in the league stage.

Rohit Sharma has multiple records to his name that might or might not be broken in the near future. However, there are some records that he can be backed to surpass in the upcoming series against the West Indies.

Let us have a look at three records that can be broken by the Indian opener.

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#3 Most 50+ scores v West Indies

Rohit Sharma has a good record against WI

West Indies have been a formidable force in the T20s, having won the recent World Cup in 2016. In order to perform well against them, India will have to bat well. Tillakaratne Dilshan, who was known for providing explosive starts for Sri Lanka has four 50+ scores against the West Indies, which is the most by any player.

Babar Azam, Alex Hales, Colin Munro, and Rohit Sharma are behind Dilshan with three 50+ scores. With the T20 series beginning from Saturday, Rohit Sharma who is in great touch would be eyeing the top position of this list.

He has thus far scored 334 runs at a strike rate of 145.85 and an average of 47.71. This includes two fifties and a hundred that he scored in November 2018. This also highlights the fact that he is at his very best when he faces the West Indies attack and with three T20s in line, there’s a high probability of him replacing Dilshan on top of the list.

#2 First Indian to smash 300 sixes as an opener

Rohit Sharma can be pipped to cross the landmark

With the advent of the T20 leagues, cricket has seen a massive transformation in the last decade. This is because of flatter tracks and batsmen having the ability to play unorthodox shots. Even the best bowler in the world will be hit over the deep wicket boundary if it’s not his day.

Hence, clearing the ropes is very common these days. As a 90’s kid, one witnessed Sanath Jayasuriya, Virender Sehwag and Adam Gilchrist slogging from the first ball, but the modern-day cricket has piled a lot more pressure on the bowlers.

One of the most destructive batsmen of all time, Chris Gayle has 522 sixes across formats. Next in the list is Jayasuriya who has 335 sixes to his name. The third place is occupied by than Rohit Sharma, who has made it a habit to score sixes at regular intervals.

In 192 innings as an opener, he has 294 sixes, which is six short of 300 sixes. He has every chance of crossing the landmark in the upcoming series, thereby becoming the first Indian opener to hit 300 sixes.

#1 Most sixes in the T20I format

Rohit will eye one more T20I record in the upcoming series

Another record that Rohit Sharma could be backed to have by the end of this series is the 'most sixes in T20Is'. In the initial years of his career, he was a middle-order batsman who played cautiously and went for big shots occasionally. But in 2013, two things happened that changed his career. He was handed over the responsibility of Mumbai Indians and was also preomoted as an opener for the Indian team.

This provided him with a platform to get in and unleash himself whenever he was set. Since then, we have seen him play some classic pull shots over the deep square leg and deep mid-wicket.

Overall, he has been one of the best openers in ODIs and T20s in the last five years. In T20Is specifically, he has smashed 102 sixes in 94 matches behind Martin Guptill and Chris Gayle, who have 103 and 105 respectively. He only has to score four sixes to surpass Gayle as the player with most T20 sixes but with Chris Gayle also featuring in this series, Rohit will need to be at his best.