From debut as 20-year-old to signing off with World Cup triumph

Rohit Sharma signed off on the best possible note from T20Is – both as a batter and as a captain. Having made his debut way back in 2007 as a 20-year-old, the Hitman went through many ups and downs before eventually bringing the curtains down on his glorious career after winning the T20 World Cup earlier this year in June. After not being a part of the shortest format of the game for a year in 2023, Rohit returned to the side to complete some unfinished business and ended his career on a high note by etching his name in history as the captain who led India to their second T20 World Cup title.

Debut as a 20-year-old in T20Is

For the unversed, Rohit made his way into the Indian team as early as 2007, when he was just 20 years old. He played just five matches in that year and amassed 88 runs. Of course, we are talking about a time when he had still not discovered his best form or rather wasn’t even one of the best batters that the country had. He was a part of the MS Dhoni-led side that lifted the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007.

Records held by Hitman in T20Is

Rohit Sharma has a truck load of records that he holds in his studded T20I career. For starters, he has played the most number of matches in the shortest format of the game, having featured in 159 contests since his debut. He holds the record for most runs scored by a player in their T20I career, having amassed 4321 runs from 151 innings. He has the most hundreds in the shortest format to his name, having slammed five centuries. He is third on the list of players with most half-centuries in T20Is, with 37 fifties. With 205 sixes to his name in the shortest format, Sharma holds the record for the player with most sixes in T20Is.

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Consistency from 2016-2024

Until the year 2016, Rohit played very little T20I cricket, featuring in a maximum of 13 matches in an annual year since his debut. But it all turned around in 2016 and the rest is history. He went on to continuously clock over 200 runs each year since then till his retirement in 2024. His best years came in 2016, 2018 and 2022 where he amassed 497, 590 and 656 runs respectively.

T20 World Cup glory + retirement after skipping T20Is for a year

Senior pros like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli skipped playing T20Is in 2023, keeping in mind the ODI World Cup. After losing the final in a heartbreaing fashion to Australia, the duo decided to extend to make their return to T20Is, and Rohit was named the skpper of the side for the World Cup in February 2024. After playing three T20Is in January 2024, he directly featured in the T20 World Cup in June.

The Hitman couldn’t have asked for a perfect farewell, as he led India to a T20 WC triumph and bid a teary farewell to the shortest format of the game. His last three T20Is saw him register scores of 92, 57 and 9. The iconic celebration from Rohit while recieving the trophy in addition to the sea of fans that greeted him and the rest of the team in Mumbai is simply unforgetable and will live on in the minds of fans and the Hitman himself forever.