In what happens to be a record-breaking achievement for Indian cricket skipper Rohit Sharma, he has transcended India’s retired legendry captain, MS Dhoni, for the most number of wins in T20Is in a calendar year by a captain. Dhoni accounted for 15 wins in a year (2016) while Rohit trumps him by 16 wins (2022) in a year. This glimmering feather in the cap comes after India registers a comprehensive win against South Africa in the first T20I at Thiruvananthapuram bringing about Rohit’s sixteenth win in T20I in a calendar year.
Rohit has shepherded the Indian team 21 times in T20Is under his captaincy out of which India was on the winning side for 16 times. Rohit’s captaincy got off to a flyer in 2022 with eight successive victories without fail, three apiece against the West Indies and Sri Lanka and two against England in July.
The excellent run with his leadership tagged along in the Caribbean Island against West Indies where India won three out of four T20Is.
The myriad series such as bilateral, multinational, and triangular, the lot of them ended with India’s triumph under Rohit and Co. But his clockwork-like run as a captain suffered a blotch at the just-concluded Asia Cup where team India crashed out of the super 4.
Rohit led the team to victory in two games in the group stage but lost two games back to back to Pakistan and Sri Lanka respectively resulting in the early exit of team India from the Asia Cup 2022. In the final classification match, Rohit decided to sit it out to scale up preparation for the then-upcoming T20I series against Australia at home where he took up the captaincy reins again. India lost the first T20I but made a rounding comeback in the latter two games under the aegis of Rohit Sharma winning the series 2-1. Now the recent T20I series against Proteas is underway, India is leading the three-match T20I series by a match. With this win, Rohit leaves one of India’s most successful captains – MS Dhoni clocking the most number of wins in T20Is as a captain in a calendar year.
Rohit will look to double down on the lead as before winding up the year, India has two more T20Is to play against South Africa with at least five more matches at the approaching T20I World Cup in Australia.
