T20 World Cup : What is Rohit Sharma's unique record that stands out among India's squad

Team India's limited-overs vice-captain Rohit Sharma is all set to play in his seventh T20 World Cup with the 2021 edition kicking off in a weeks time at UAE and Oman. The Indian opener has appeared in every edition of the T20 World Cup since its inception in 2007 and is the only Indian player to have done so.

Rohit made his T20 World Cup debut as a 20-year-old in 2007 against England at Durban. Unfortunately, he didn’t get the opportunity to bat in that match but scored a brilliant half-century in the next game against South Africa. Rohit remained not-out in all the three innings he batted and played a key role in India’s triumph over Pakistan in the finals with a quickfire knock of 30 runs in just 16 deliveries.

The Indian team then had a disappointing run at the next three World Cups i.e in 2009, 2010, and 2012 as they crashed out in the Super 8’s in each edition. Rohit managed to score 297 runs in 11 games across the three world cups which was below his level.

The 2014 edition of the T20 World Cup was India’s second-best performance in the tournament as they managed to finish as runners-up after being defeated by Sri Lanka in the finals. Rohit upped his game in that edition and managed two half-centuries in the competition and also provided decent starts in the majority of the games. He finished with 200 runs from six games at an average of 40 and a strike rate of 123.46.

The sixth edition of the T20 World Cup in 2016 was Rohit’s worst-ever as he could manage only 88 runs in five matches at an average of 17.6 and a strike rate of just 107.32. Despite Rohit's poor display with the bat, India reached the semis on the back of a masterclass by Virat Kohli.

Overall, Rohit has featured in 28 WT20 games for India scoring 673 runs at an average of 39.58, and will now look to better that and guide India to their second title.

T20 WC: India’s 15-man squad for the mega event 

Virat Kohli (C), Rohit Sharma (VC), KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (WK), Ishan Kishan (WK), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Rahul Chahar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami. 

Reserves: Shreyas Iyer, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar.

Image: PTI