India vs New Zealand: Rohit Sharma joins Virat Kohli on top of elite T20I list

Rohit Sharma stormed back into form in the 3rd match of the T20I series against New Zealand as he gave India a quick start at the top of the order. Rohit scored 65 runs in just 40 balls before being dismissed by Hamish Bennett in the 11th over as he continued to look for the boundaries to help India post a big total.

Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul put on 89 runs for the first wicket to give the tourists a head start in the match. The India vice captain made his intentions clear in the very first over, hitting Southee for a boundary on the fourth delivery. He tore into Hamish Bennett in the final over of the power play, hitting the paceman for 27 runs. Rohit hit back to back sixes and followed it up with consecutive boundaries before ending the over with another maximum, bringing up his half-century in just 23 deliveries.

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As a result of that, Rohit has now passed the 50-run mark in T20 internationals 24 times. This puts him on top of the list for batsmen with most 50-plus scores in T20Is along side Indian captain Virat Kohli. Kohli threatened to take his top spot back for a while before being dismissed for 38 in the match.

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It should be noted that Rohit has 4 T20I centuries to his name, the most for any batsman in cricket’s shortest format. Kohli is yet to score his maiden T20I century. The comparison though is unfair as Rohit opens the innings and gets to play more deliveries in most of the matches than Kohli, who walks in at teh number 3 slot.