India vs West Indies, 2nd T20I: Virat Kohli on Friday equalled India captain Rohit Sharma’s record after hitting his 30th T20I fifty in Kolkata.
India vs West Indies: Virat Kohli equals Rohit Sharma’s record after scoring 30th T20I fifty (AP Photo)
HIGHLIGHTS
- Virat Kohli hit his 30th T20I fifty on Friday against West Indies
- Virat Kohli equaled Rohit Sharma’s unique T20I record in Kolkata
- Both Rohit and Kohli now have 30 fifty-plus scores in T20I cricket
Virat Kohli equaled India captain Rohit Sharma’s unique T20I record with his 30th fifty in the shortest format during the second T20I between India and West Indies in Kolkata on Friday. Kohli’s 30th half-century in T20 internationals brought him on par with captain Rohit Sharma.
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Notably, Kohli is also the only batter with more than 10,000 runs in the Twenty20 format of the game. The Royal Challengers Bangalore batter is 6th on the list of all-time run-scorers in the T20I format of the game, only behind Chris Gayle (14,529), Shoaib Malik (11611), Kieron Pollard (11419), Aaron Finch (10434), and David Warner (10308).
Kohli had scored 29 fifties before Friday in 96 matches. However, he is yet to score a hundred in the shortest format of the game in international cricket. He averages a staggering 51 in T20I cricket. Virat Kohli finally managed to put a full stop to the chatter around his middling form by hitting a 41-ball 52 in the 2nd T20I against the West Indies.
The former skipper has been looking to play an aggressive role at No. 3 for India in the T20Is as opposed to the accumulator role that he was playing until the T20 World Cup last year. The approach did not come off in the first T20I as he departed for 17 while trying to hit left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein over long-off. After a poor ODI series in which he scored only 26 runs, questions were asked about Virat Kohli’s form, but he has been showing the intent to get off the blocks quickly.
Kohli also leads the list of run-scorers in the Indian Premier League with 6283 runs in the premier T20 tournament. Kohli has hit 5 hundred. Kohli stepped down as India’s T20I captain after the T20 World Cup in the UAE last year, saying that he wanted to focus on the captaincy in ODIs and Tests but he was sacked as captain in the 50-over format.
Kohli, in an unforeseen manner, quit as Test captain earlier this year after India lost a Test series 2-1 in South Africa. However, with the T20 World Cup coming up later this year, Kohli will be an integral member of the squad with backing from captain Rohit and the team management.
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