Rohit Sharma returned to international cricket as captain in Southampton on Thursday India For a massive 50-run win over hosts England in the first T20I. After a hectic IPL 2022, Rohit was earlier rested from the five-match T20I series at home against South Africa before the Covid infection prevented him from participating in the rescheduled fifth Test against England.
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After a full recovery, Rohit returned to India’s colors for the first time since March 2022, when he achieved a mammoth 238-run victory over Sri Lanka in the Bengaluru Test. After that, he captained the Mumbai Indians, but the franchise faced a tough season as they finished last in the 10-team competition.
However, on Thursday, Rohit made a new captaincy record. The win over England was Rohit’s 13th consecutive win as a captain and he became the first player in men’s T20I history to do so.
The previous record for 12 consecutive T20I victories as captain was held by Asghar Afghan of Afghanistan and Ramesh Satisan of Romania. The 35-year-old has surpassed his feat and now holds the record for most consecutive wins as T20I captain.
Overall, Rohit has led India in 29 T20Is so far and tasted victory in 25 of them, while losing four, with an excellent win percentage of 86.20.
Meanwhile, opening for India in the series opener, he looked fine before being dismissed for 24. During his brief innings, however, Rohit set a new India record for the fastest 1000 runs as a T20I captain.
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he outlived his predecessor Virat Kohli Joe reached the milestone in 30 innings, while Rohit did it in 29. In fact, Kohli held the captain’s record for the fastest 1000 T20I runs till November 2021, when Babar Azam of Pakistan overtook him by doing so in just 24 innings.
India will next take on England in the second T20I at Edgbaston on Saturday.
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