The captain of the Indian cricket team successfully led the Indian side to a sensational and much-awaited victory at the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. The emotional visuals of cricketers, including skipper Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav commemorating the iconic victory of India over South Africa shook the entire nation and world at large.
Shortly after holding the World Cup and celebrating the victory with the Indian cricket team, skipper Rohit Sharma announced his official retirement from the T20 Internationals alongside Virat Kohli.
After serving Indian cricket in the T20 internationals format since the inaugural edition in 2007 and backing up the team as a captain since November 2021, the “hitman” flawlessly took command of Indian cricket and made history repeat itself and outshined india as a “World Champion” for the second time after the inaugural 2006 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. Although Rohit Sharma has decided to call it “quits”, there are many iconic cricketers who started their T20 journeys alongside hitman and are still in full action on the field.
In this article we will take a look at the top three batsmen who started off with their T20 International journey alongside Rohit Sharma and are still a dominating force.
Top 3 Cricketers Who Made Their T20I Debut Before Rohit Sharma And Are Still In Action
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Shoaib Malik
Veteran Pakistan cricketer, Shoaib Malik made his official T20I debut against England in 2006 and made his last T20I appearance against Bangladesh in 2021. In between, the cricketer has had an extremely illustrious and impressive cricketing career.
Often hailed as one of the greatest all-rounders in Pakistan’s cricket history, Shoaib Malik has assisted Pakistan’s side to numerous iconic victories including, the 2009 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, 2009 ICC Champions Trophy and 2017 ICC Champions Trophy.
Owing to his stellar all-rounder and consistent performances across all international cricket formats, Shoaib Malik was made the captain of Pakistan’s cricket squad for all three formats in 2007 at the age of twenty-five. Shoaib Malik was the youngest captain of Pakistan’s national cricket team. Currently, Shoaib Malik has officially announced his retirement from ODI and Test cricket but hasn’t called it quits yet for the T20I.
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Although Shoaib Malik has been off the radar of Pakistan’s national team selectors as he hasn’t been picked since his last 2021 T201 innings, Malik openly expressed his undivided attention towards the T20 internationals and boldly mentioned in an interview that he would be available to play for Pakistan in the T20 international format, if selected. Thus, we can totally expect Shoaib Malik’s fury to roll out once again on the field in the upcoming T20 Series.
An anecdote about Shoaib Malik’s illustrious cricket career is provided below:
Shoaib Malik’s Batting & Fielding Statistics:
| Format | Mat | Inns | NO | Runs | HS | Ave | BF | SR | 100s | 50s | 4s | 6s | Ct | St |
| Tests | 35 | 60 | 6 | 1898 | 245 | 35.14 | 4155 | 45.67 | 3 | 8 | 239 | 17 | 18 | 0 |
| ODIs | 287 | 258 | 40 | 7534 | 143 | 34.55 | 9199 | 81.90 | 9 | 44 | 603 | 113 | 98 | 0 |
| T20Is | 124 | 111 | 33 | 2435 | 75 | 31.21 | 1938 | 125.64 | 0 | 9 | 196 | 69 | 50 | 0 |
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Shakib Al Hasan
Shakib Al Hasan, popularly referred to as “Moyna” of Bangladesh’s national cricket team, has undoubtedly been one of the most influential figures to revolutionise the cricket scene for Bangladesh on a global scale. Shakib Al Hasan made his official T20 debut against Zimbabwe in 2006 and has been a formidable player for the Bangladesh squad across all three formats ever since.
Shakib Al Hasan has been a top-notch player for Bangladesh across all formats, with a total of 7,570* runs, Hasan is the third-highest scorer in the ODI format, with a total of 4,505* runs, Hasan is the fourth-highest scorer in the Test format and with a total of 2,551* runs, Hasan is the ultimate highest scorer in the T20 format.
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Although Hasan started off his T20 career just one year prior to Rohit Sharma, the Bangladeshi conqueror still has a lot more in his hat to prove and achieve, with a highly illustrious T20 international career ahead of him, Shakib Al Hasan is undisputedly one of the most successful cricketers in the history of Bangladesh.
An anecdote about Shakib Al Hasan’s stellar career statistics is mentioned below:
Shakib-Al-Hasan’s Batting & Fielding Statistics:
| Format | Mat | Inns | NO | Runs | HS | Ave | BF | SR | 100s | 50s | 4s | 6s | Ct | St |
| Tests | 67 | 123 | 7 | 4505 | 217 | 38.83 | 7265 | 62.00 | 5 | 31 | 543 | 27 | 26 | 0 |
| ODIs | 247 | 234 | 31 | 7570 | 134* | 37.29 | 9138 | 82.84 | 9 | 56 | 699 | 54 | 60 | 0 |
| T20Is | 129 | 127 | 17 | 2551 | 84 | 23.19 | 2105 | 121.18 | 0 | 13 | 258 | 53 | 31 | 0 |
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Mahmudullah Riyad
Mohammad Mahmudullah Riyad made his T20 debut alongside Rohit Sharma in the 2007 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup against Kenya in Nairobi and played his last T20 match against Zimbabwe in the recent 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
Although it has been seventeen long years, Mahmudullah Riyad continues to have the same dominance in the game’s format and is often hailed as one of the finest and most dynamic cricketers to ever represent Bangladesh’s national cricket team on a global level.
In his illustrious career of seventeen long years, Mahmudullah has captured numerous significant feats during several iconic tournaments, including the 2015 ICC World Cup, where Mahmudullah established himself as the first ever Bangladeshi cricketer to score a World Cup century against England and the second Bangladeshi cricketer to score two consecutive centuries in the same World Cup tournament; he smashed his first century against England in the 2015 ICC World Cup and a second ton against New Zealand in the same edition.
An anecdote about Mohammad Mahmudullah Riyad’s phenomenal cricket statistics is provided below:
Mahmudullah Riyad’s Batting & Fielding Statistics:
| Format | Mat | Inns | NO | Runs | HS | Ave | BF | SR | 100s | 50s | 4s | 6s | Ct | St |
| Tests | 50 | 94 | 7 | 2914 | 150* | 33.49 | 5456 | 53.40 | 5 | 16 | 338 | 24 | 38 | 1 |
| ODIs | 232 | 202 | 51 | 5386 | 128* | 35.66 | 7002 | 76.92 | 4 | 28 | 406 | 93 | 81 | 0 |
| T20Is | 138 | 127 | 26 | 2394 | 64* | 23.70 | 2032 | 117.81 | 0 | 8 | 183 | 74 | 50 | 0 |
