With their 17-match win in Game 3 in Kolkata on Sunday, India secured their second straight T20I series victory, this time at home against West India. The win not only helped India reclaim the T20I crown for the first time in six years, it also helped Rohit Sharma set a huge India captain record.
With this victory, India now has a rating of 269, surpassing England to become the top T20I team in the ICC table. The last time India achieved this ranking was in early 2016 under MS Dhoni.
India bounced back in form following a memorable 2021 T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates last November, after suffering a group-stage exit before Virat Kohli stepped down as captain. Under new captain Rohit, India beat New Zealand 3-0 at home last year, then West Indies. It was the first consecutive win for the Men in Blue in a bilateral T20I series.
It was also India’s sixth whitewash victory in the bilateral T20I competition, four of which were under Rohit. He previously led India to a string of victories over Sri Lanka (3-0) in 2017/18, West Indies (3-0) and New Zealand in 2018/19.
Rohit thus became the first Indian captain and fifth in world cricket to win a bilateral T20I series (minimum 3 matches) in a row. He could also become the third captain to score four whitewashed victories in a bilateral T20I series (minimum 3 matches), joining ex-Afghanistan captain Asgar Afghani (4 matches) and ex-Pakistan captain Safaraz Ai Hamed (5 games) is comparable.
Rohit also passed Kohli for second place on the list of T20Is captains with the most wins at home. It was Rohit’s 14th victory in 15 matches on home soil. Eoin Morgan and Kane Williamson top the list with 15 wins each.
The veteran cricketer also matched former Pakistan captain Safaraz Ahmed’s record of nine consecutive T20I wins as captain, after Asgar Afghanistan’s 12 such victories. Second in the elusive list (full member states).
Complete News Source : Hindustan times
