India captain Rohit Sharma reclaimed his world record of scoring most runs in T20 internationals in the first game of the five-match T20I series against West Indies here at the Brian Lara Stadium, Tarouba, Trinidad. Martin Guptill went past Rohit Sharma to become the highest run-scorer in T20Is, both men and women, during the first T20I between Scotland and New Zealand in Edinburgh. At the start of the game, Rohit needed 20 runs to overtake New Zealand's Martin Guptil on the list of most runs scored by a batsman in the shortest format of the game. Guptil had 3,399 runs in the format while Rohit was on 3,379 runs. Virat Kohli was the first to breach the 3000-run mark in T20Is when he achieved the feat in 2021 during the second T20I of the home series against England in Ahmedabad. The 2000-run mark was first crossed by Guptill's countryman, Brendon McCullum eight years back. McCullum was, in fact, the first to cross the 1000-run barrier too in men's T20Is.
_ Milestone Alert _
Congratulations to #TeamIndia captain @ImRo45 as he becomes the leading run-getter in T20Is (in Men's cricket). _ _
Follow the match __ https://t.co/qWZ7LSCVXA #WIvIND pic.twitter.com/koukfHIR2i
— BCCI (@BCCI) July 29, 2022
Earlier, West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran won the toss and opted to bowl first. Alzarri Joseph is making his T20I debut for West Indies while Shimron Hetmyer, who was not part of the ODIs returned back into the team, for this game.
"Going to bowl first. Maybe there's something in the pitch. Nice to know what you're chasing. Looking forward to this series. We enjoy the format. We like to entertain. One spinner. Alzarri Joseph making his debut. Shimron Hetmyer back into the team," said Pooran at the toss.
On the other hand, many regular Indian players including captain Rohit Sharma returned to the visitors side, after being rested for the ODIs.
"Ready to go. Good to have some time off. Pretty excited to get back and get things underway. First international game being played here, good to see the fans coming in large numbers. Facility looks good. Will have to look at how the wicket plays. Few guys have left, few have come back. Quite excited to get underway," said Rohit.
Playing XI
India: Rohit Sharma(c), Rishabh Pant(w), Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Arshdeep Singh
West Indies: Shamarh Brooks, Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell, Nicholas Pooran(w/c), Kyle Mayers, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Odean Smith, Alzarri Joseph, Obed McCoy, Keemo Paul
