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Rohit Sharma-led India stormed into the Group Fours of Asia Cup 2022 by steamrolling Hong Kong and Pakistan in Group A clashes respectively. After Afghanistan, the Men in Blue became the second team to advance to the next stage of the marquee tournament.
Following the convincing victory on Wednesday (August 31), skipper Rohit Sharma surpassed Virat Kohli as India’s second most successful captain in the shortest format. The former has now 31 victories out of 37 games while Kohli achieved 30 wins in 50 encounters.
Former captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who helped India win 41 T20I matches under his captaincy from 72 matches, is still on top of the list.
Meanwhile, India-Hong Kong's match marked Rohit's 132nd T20I match. Rohit looked to shift gears quickly in the powerplay and hit one six and a couple of boundaries and reached 21 off 12 balls. However, he miscued the 13th delivery and was dismissed.
Young pacer Ayush Shukla bowled another slower off-cutter delivery which Rohit failed to clear and all he got was a top-edge and fielder Aizaz Khan took a good catch diving forward at mid-on to end Rohit's cameo.
Before the start of this game, Rohit had amassed 3499 runs in T20Is and he ended up scoring 3520 runs in international cricket and with this he achieved yet another milestone in T20Is.
Most runs in T20Is:
Rohit Sharma - 3520 Runs
Martin Guptill - 3497 Runs
Virat Kohli - 3358* Runs
Paul Stirling - 3011 Runs
On Wednesday, Suryakumar Yadav’s fireworks in the last seven overs did wonders for the Men in Blue. India were reduced to 94/3 in 13 overs when he walked in and completely changed the complexion of India’s innings. He remained unbeaten on 68 off 26 balls, hitting six fours and as many sixes.
While he hit 12 boundaries in his 26-ball knock, all other Indian batters managed to hit nine boundaries collectively in 96 balls. Suryakumar also shared a 98-run stand with Virat Kohli, who made an unbeaten 59 in 44 balls, hitting four and three sixes.
Skipper Rohit was pleased with the batting show, especially in the back end of the innings. But he felt that bowling could have been better.
“We batted pretty well to start with, got to a very good score. Came out and bowled reasonably well, we could have done slightly better with the ball,” Rohit said at the post-match presentation.
