Rohit Sharma will make his on-field return when India take on West Indies in the opening T20I of the five-match series in Trinidad. Rohit, along with Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah and Virat Kohli, was rested for the ODI leg of the tour. Kohli and Bumrah were rested for the complete series and they are enjoying their holidays.
In the opening T20I of the fixture, Rohit will hope to regain the top position in the list of batsmen with the most runs in the shortest format. The India captain was leapfrogged by Martin Guptill during New Zealand’s first T20I against Scotland on Wednesday (July 27).
Guptill was 21 runs short of breaching Rohit’s tally and moved to the top spot with a knock of 40. He now has 3399 runs in 116 T20Is while Rohit sits at the 2nd spot with 3379 runs. Interestingly, at the time when Rohit will be busy in the first T20I against WI, Guptill will be in action in the 2nd game of the series against Scotland.
The race for the numero uno position will continue for the next few months as both teams are scheduled to play many matches on the road to the 2022 T20 World Cup. Virat Kohli, who once held the top spot, has 3308 runs and is also in the race.
He is on a break and will make his comeback in the T20I format in the Asia Cup 2022, scheduled to begin on August 27.
India and West Indies are scheduled to square off in five T20Is over the next week. Hence, Rohit can dominate the proceedings during this period. The last two T20Is of the series are scheduled to be played in USA on August 6 and 7.