Last Update on: August 31st, 2022 at 11:37 pm
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Virat Kohli of the Indian cricket team equaled a unique record held by India captain Rohit Sharma during his 59*-run knock against Hong Kong in the ongoing Asia Cup 2022 match in Dubai International Cricket stadium in UAE on August 31, 2022.
Hong Kong captain Nizakat Khan won the toss and chose to bowl first. Rohit Sharma revealed that Rishabh Pant came in to replace Hardik Pandya who was rested for this game. Indian openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul struggled initially to gauge the nature of the pitch and the start was a bit sketchy.
Rohit tried to pump the tempo in powerplay but perished for 21 runs in 13 balls. KL Rahul fell for 36 runs in 39 balls. Then Suryakumar Yadav joined Virat Kohli in the middle and the duo began smashing the Hong Kong bowlers to all parts of the Dubai stadium.
Suryakumar Yadav hammered 68* in just 26 balls with 6 fours and 6 sixes to his name. 4 of those sixes came in the last over bowled by Haroon Rashid, who went for 53 runs in 3 overs.
Virat Kohli Equals Rohit Sharma’s Record Of 31 Fifty Plus Scores In T20I Cricket
On the other hand, Virat Kohli finished on 59* with 3 sixes and 1 four to his name and added 98* runs for the third wicket with Suryakumar as India made 192/2 in 20 overs.
In reply, Indian bowlers kept the Hong Kong batters in check despite them making 50/1 in 6 overs of powerplay. Hong Kong finished on 152/5 in 20 overs, losing the match by 40 runs, as India qualified for the Super 4s.
The half-century, his second in the format in 2022, helped Kohli go level with Rohit Sharma for most scores of fifty or more in T20Is. This was Kohli’s 31st fifty-plus score in the format. Rohit has 27 half-centuries and four hundreds in T20Is.
Apart from Kohli and Rohit, no other batter has more than 30 such scores in T20Is with Babar Azam, David Warner, Martin Guptill and Paul Stirling the others with more than 20 scores of fifty or more.
Here are the batters with most scores of fifty or more in T20Is:
- Rohit Sharma- 31
- Virat Kohli- 31
- Babar Azam- 27
- David Warner- 23
- Martin Guptill- 22
- Paul Stirling- 21