How did captain Virat Kohli achieve the highest T20 record till 28 January 2020, the old record is MS Dhoni's highest T20

How did captain Virat Kohli achieve the highest T20 record till 28 January 2020, the old record is MS Dhoni's highest T20



Virat Kohli added another feather to his cap on Wednesday when he took on former captain M.S. Dhoni scores the most runs in T20Is as the captain of India.

Kohli took only 37 matches to overtake Dhoni's 1112 as captain in T20I cricket. South Africa captain Faf du Plessis holds the record for the most runs in T20 cricket with 1273 runs as captain. New Zealand captain Kane Williamson has 1148 runs in T20I.

Kohli finished the Hamilton T20I with 1126 runs (as captain). The India captain was dismissed for 38 from 27 balls at the end of the innings, as he was eyeing a late charge.

New Zealand fast bowler Hamish Bennett picked up three wickets thanks to Rohit Sharma's half-century that put India at 179/5 in 20 overs in the third T20I at Seddon Park. India reached 69/0 in the first six overs and it seemed that the New Zealand team would be ready to ask India to bat first, so that the strength of the chase was reduced. But the Kiwi bowlers bounced back beautifully to clamp down on the Indian batsmen.

Viewers scored 18 runs in the last over of Tim Southee in the last over, hitting Manish Pandey and Ravindra Jadeja for six.

When Indian captain Virat Kohli takes the field for the third T20I vs New Zealand in Hamilton, he will be seeing one or two big records in the shortest format. India are currently leading the 5-match series 2–0 with 3 games and if the men win in Blue on Wednesday, it will make Kohli the first Indian captain to win the T20 series in New Zealand.

The last time India visited New Zealand in early 2019, the tourists lost the 3-match series 1-2 before winning the following ODI 4-1. Only the second time that India played T20I in New Zealand was back in 2008-09 when the visitors returned empty-handed after a 0-2 drubbing. But this time the ongoing series with India leading 2–0, Virat Kohli's team will keep an eye on their historic maiden T20I series win.

Not only this, Captain Kohli will be seen leading a team, leaving behind his predecessor MS Dhoni in the list of highest run scorers. Kohli currently has 1088 runs as captain in T20Is and needs 25 more to overtake Dhoni and occupy third place in the Faf du Plessis-led all-time list.

Du Plessis as T20I captain with 1273 runs, opposite Kohli in the ongoing series with Kohli, Kane Williamson, who has 1148 runs to his name. England's Eoin Morgan is the top-5 player with the most T20I runs as captain.

Kohli's second major record as the T20 captain in Hamilton is to score the most 50+. Kohli is currently in the overall list with du Plessis and Williamson with 8 points of 50+. And it should be a good race between 2 opposing captain Kohli and Williamson to see who goes to the top of the list at the end of the day.

It has been a quiet series so far, at least by Kohli's standards, with the captain trailing 45 (32) in the opener with 11 (12) in the second match.

On the other hand, in-form batsman KL Rahul is also in reach to match the record for the most consecutive fifties in T20. Rakul has come in supreme form with the bat late, scoring 50 runs in his last 3 matches. If he manages another in Hamilton on Wednesday, he will be equaling the current record jointly by Brendon McCullum and Chris Gayle, who had 4 consecutive 50+ scores in 2008/09 and 2012 respectively.

In fact, among the Indians, Rahul is currently tied with Kohli and Rohit Sharma, who have the distinction of scoring a hat-trick with a half-century of T20. Curiously, Kohli has done this 3 times already (2012, 2014, 2016) while Sharma has done so in 2018.

Rahul's current streak was in the last of the 3 T20Is vs Sri Lanka earlier this month, when he captured the series for India by playing a match-winning 54 in Pune. Rahul then entered the field by scoring 56 and 57 * runs in his first 2 T20Is in New Zealand. It is fair to say that Rahul, Kohli and Williamson are statistically ready to send the batsmen into a frenzy at Hamilton, if they continue to perform well with the bat.