India v Bangladesh 2019 | Rohit Sharma set to become first Indian Men's player to reach 100 T20Is
When he comes out for the toss on November 7 against Bangladesh, Rohit Sharma will become the first Indian Men's player to complete a century of T20 internationals. Sharma was tied with former Indian captain MS Dhoni at 98 games before the series against Bangladesh.
Harmanpreet Kaur became the first Indian player to get to 100 T20 internationals when she featured in the team against South Africa on October 9 in Surat, making Rohit only the second Indian to get to the prestigious milestone
Speaking at a pre-match press conference, Rohit became nostalgic and remembered his early playing days for the national side. He talked about his debut in the winning campaign of the 2007 T20 World Cup in South Africa.
"It’s been a long journey since 2007, I made my debut in the T20 World Cup. There has been a lot of ups and downs in the last 12 years in this format particularly. This has taught me so many lessons going forward.”
In the first T20I against Bangladesh, Rohit also overtook regular captain Virat Kohli as the highest run-getter for India in this format with 2452 runs in 99 games at a strike rate of 136.67, hitting four centuries on the way. With records pouring in, Rohit stated that he endured a big learning curve and was a much better player than he was at the beginning of his career.
“When you come into the team as a youngster, you are trying to learn things which happened quite smoothly at the start. Then with a few ups and few downs, I have become a stronger player and understood my game well… There are so many things I can talk about. It has been a fruitful journey, one which will always be remembered and cherished by me.”
Pakistan’s Shoaib Malik is the only player to have played 100 or more T20s for their national side. In 111 T20Is, Malik has scored 2263 runs at a strike-rate of 124.06. Other players who have played 90 or more internationals apart from Malik, Sharma, and Dhoni are Shaid Afridi (Pakistan- 99 matches), Ross Taylor (New Zealand- 93 matches) and Kevin O' Brien (Ireland-90 matches).
Follow Sportskeeda for all the updates on India Bangladesh head to head, India Bangladesh schedule, news, results, points table, most runs, most wickets and fantasy tips.