Rohit Sharma, often hailed as the ultimate king of the T20 Internationals format, recently announced his retirement from the format that stirred a major wave of shock and disbelief among his hardcore fans around the world. Shortly after leading the Indian cricket team to a long-awaited victory in the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup tournament, Rohit Sharma announced his retirement alongside other legendary Indian cricketers, including Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja. Although the “hitman” has decided to bid adieu to the T20 international format, the rich legacy that he leaves behind will continue to serve as a benchmark for the upcoming cricketers of the younger generation. As of July 2024, Rohit Sharma is the highest run-scorer in T20 internationals with a stellar total of 4231* runs in the 159 matches that he has played.
In this article we will take a look at the top five most memorable T20 international innings by Rohit Sharma.
India vs Australia: ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024
The Indian cricket team successfully solidified its place as “undefeated” champions in the most recent ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, defeating all the teams around the world to clinch the coveted World Cup trophy for the second time after the inaugural 2007 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup tournament. The skipper of the Indian cricket team, Rohit Sharma, played a pivotal role in driving India to its undefeated triumph at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 without losing even a single match with his stellar innings and path-breaking captaincy. Although Rohit Sharma managed to pull off a majority of matches throughout the tournament, his power-packed 92 runs off just 41 deliveries in an innings against Australia assisted India in defeating the Aussies in the Super 8 game. The groundbreaking inning from Rohit Sharma that helped India to put up a mammoth total of 205* runs on the board consisted of eight sixes and seven boundaries.
India vs Afghanistan: T20 Series 2024
In a thrilling match against Afghanistan in the 2024 T20I series, Rohit Sharma posted a significant total of 121* off just 69 deliveries. Since the Indian cricket team was already in a dominating position in the T20 2024 league without losing any matches, they went all-in against Afghanistan and annihilated the cricket team of Afghanistan with stellar batting spells and ground-breaking bowling from bowlers like Jasprit Bumrah and Harshdeep Singh. Rohit Sharma’s 121* run innings that consisted of a total of eight sixes and eleven boundaries played a crucial role in assisting India to clinch its third game in the T20I series in 2024. Although India had a tough time beating Afghanistan, as the latter managed to equal the run chase with a total of 212 runs, the men in blue squad defeated Afghanistan in the second super over and clinched the three-match series by a margin of 3-0.
India vs. England: T20 Series 2018
The T20 Series of 2018 proved to be a game changer for the hitman of the Indian cricket team, who was being brutally criticized by both fans and critics for his poor batting form in the T20 internationals format. Things came to a point where critics even raised questions about Rohit Sharma’s future involvement in the Indian cricket team in the T20 format. However, Rohit Sharma silenced all the criticisms with his brilliant batting spell as an opener during the 2018 T20 Series. In a gripping match against England, Rohit Sharma smashed a century off just 56 deliveries and assisted the team in defeating England and scoring a phenomenal win by 2-1 in the series.
India vs South Africa: ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2007
The inaugural edition of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2007 undoubtedly elevated India’s stature on the international stage with a beaming victory against arch-rivals. In addition to displaying India as a “world champion,” the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2007 also marked the much-awaited entry of Rohit Sharma into the T20 international landscape. The Mumbai-born batsman displayed his stellar batting streak and successfully scored a total of 50* off just forty deliveries against South Africa, which greatly assisted the Indian cricket team to clinch the match by a huge margin of thirty-seven runs. Rohit Sharma was awarded the “player of the match” trophy at the end of the match and was also acknowledged as one of the most “formidable” newcomers on the international stage.
India vs Australia: T20 World Cup 2010
Ever since the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2007, Rohit Sharma has been a mainstay for all T20 International tournaments owing to his ground-breaking performances and match-winning innings, and the T20 World Cup 2010 proved to be another glorious twist in the rich legacy of the Indian “hitman.” Although, after the early dismissal of India’s top batting lineup, including Gautam Gambhir, Murali Vijay, and Suresh Raina, the Indian side initially seemed to be in trouble while chasing down Australia’s score of 185* Rohit Sharma’s dominating innings against Australia proved to be a game changer for the men in blue as they marked a highly anticipated comeback into the game. Batting at number four, Rohit Sharma smashed an unbeaten 79* runs off 46 deliveries. Although the Indian cricket team ended up losing the game against Australia, the power-packed innings from Rohit Sharma solidified his place as one of the most reliable batsmen in the Indian cricket team at that point.
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