Back in September 2007, Rohit Sharma made his T20I debut against England at the Kingsmead in Durban in the inaugural edition of the T20 World Cup. It was the same match where Yuvraj Singh became the first batter to hit 6 sixes in a single over in T20Is.
From there on, the world has seen the best of Rohit Sharma in T20Is plenty of times. In 148 T20Is, the Nagpur-born cricketer has scored 3853 runs at an average of 31.32 and a strike-rate of 139.24. He is also close to becoming only the third batter after Virat Kohli and Suzie Bates to score 4000 plus runs in T20Is.
Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli return to India T20I squad for Afghanistan series
Rohit also holds the record for the most hundreds in T20Is (4) along with Suryakumar Yadav and Glenn Maxwell. Rohit hasn't played in a T20I since the T20 World Cup 2022 semi-final against England at Adelaide Oval. However, he will play in the T20I series against Afghanistan keeping in mind the T20 World Cup in the West Indies and the USA.
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Five knocks that can be counted among the best of Rohit Sharma in T20Is
1.118 against Sri Lanka, 2017
Back on December 22, 2017, the world witnessed the best of Rohit Sharma in T20Is when he scored the then fastest hundred against Sri Lanka at the Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore.
Rohit scored the century off 35 balls to equal the record jointly held by South Africa’s David Miller and Czech Republic’s Sudesh Wickramasekara. He racked up 118 runs off 43 balls with the help of 12 fours and 10 sixes.
On the back of his knock, India scored 260 for the loss of 5 wickets. Rohit went hard at the top and put in 165 runs for the opening wicket along with KL Rahul. It eventually was Dushmantha Chameera, who dismissed him.
Rohit won the Player of the match award after India won by 88 runs. Recently, Kusal Malla of Nepal broke Rohit’s record after he smashed a century off 34 against Mongolia in the Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou.
2. 100 against England, 2018
The best of Rohit Sharma in T20Is features his knock from 2018 when he scored a hundred against Eoin Morgan’s England at the County Ground in Bristol. The veteran scored 100 runs off 56 balls with the help of 11 fours and 5 sixes.
Rohit played at a strike-rate of 178.57 and made sure that the Men in Blue chased down a stiff target of 199 with 8 balls left in their innings. He got an supportive partner in Virat Kohli, who scored 43 runs off 29 balls with 2 fours and as many sixes.
Rohit and Kohli put on a partnership of 89 runs for the third wicket. Hardik Pandya also chipped in with a knock of 33 off 14 to make life easy for Rohit in the middle. Rohit won the award for the Player of the Match after India claimed the series 2-1 by winning the deciding game.
3. 56 against Bangladesh, 2018
The Nidahas Trophy will mostly be remembered for the knock that Dinesh Karthik against Bangladesh at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. However, the innings that Rohit Sharma played that day should not be undermined by any stretch of the imagination.
A target of 167 can be tricky to chase down, especially in a match as big as the final. India got off to a decent start, but lost Shikhar Dhawan and Suresh Raina in the fourth over to lose quite a bit of momentum. But Rohit made sure that Bangladesh did not dictate terms to India.
Rohit scored 56 runs off 42 balls with the help of 4 fours and 3 sixes. He also put on 51 runs with KL Rahul for the third wicket after Dhawan and Raina departed in quick succession. Nazmul Islam Apu got rid of Rohit with India’s score at 98 for 4 in 13.2 overs. After Rohit got out, Karthik took the onus to take India home.
4. 79 against Australia, 2010
The best of Rohit Sharma includes his knock from the T20 World Cup 2010 against Michael Clarke’s Australia at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados. Although India went on to lose the match by 49, at the age of 22, Rohit Sharma the force he could be in the shortest format of the game.
Chasing a target of 185, India were all over the place and were bowled out for 135 in 17.4 overs. Even as the other batters failed to get a measure of the Australian bowling, Rohit passed the stiff test with flying colors.
Rohit came to bat after Dirk Nannes removed both the Indian openers, Murali Vijay and Gautam Gambhir. From there on, he brought up his half-century off 33 valla to give the Indian contingent in the crowd something to cheer for.
Even as wickets kept falling around him, Rohit kept shining. The then youngster scored 79 runs off 46 balls with the help of 4 fours and 6 sixes.
— Rohit Sharma (@ImRo45) August 29, 2023
5. 106 against South Africa, 2015
The maiden hundred he scored against South Africa back in 2015 should be a part of the best of Rohit Sharma in T20Is. Rohit got to his hundred off 62 balls after which he went on to notch 106 runs off 66 balls with 12 fours and 5 sixes.
After being put in to bat first at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) Stadium in Dharamsala, India scored 199 for the loss of five wickets. The hosts found themselves in early trouble after Kyle Abbott got the prized wicket of Shikhar Dhawan.
From there on, Rohit took charge and nearly took India past the 200-run mark. Rohit joined hands with Virat Kohli as the duo put on 138 runs for the second wicket off 12.2 overs.
However, Rohit's knock went in vain as South Africa won the match by 7 wickets with 2 balls after chasing down 200 in 19.4 overs.
