Rohit Sharma’s stormed to the joint quickest T20I century as he put together a 43-ball 118 to blow away Sri Lanka in the second game of the three-match series.
Skipper of the side in the absence of Virat Kohli, Sharma plundered 12 sixes and 10 boundaries in his whirlwind of an innings that will be remembered for a long time by Indian fans.
We look at the seven deadly stats from Sharma’s record 35-ball ton which handed India an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series.
RECORD QUICKEST
The 35 balls taken by the opening batsman to reach the three-figure mark has only been done once before in history, by Proteas batsman David Miller.
ONLY INDIAN TO SCORE TWO T20I TONS
After becoming the only batsman in history to register three ODI double tons, Sharma is now the only Indian to have scored two of those in 20-over format.
70 other players have worn the blue of Team India in the years since the format was introduced, with the Mumbai-man only managing the feat.
118 runs
43 balls
12 fours
10 sixes
274.41 strike rate
1 incredible inningsBravo @ImRo45!#INDvSL pic.twitter.com/ixZH9ZeXq0
— ICC (@ICC) December 22, 2017
MOST SIXES IN A CALENDAR YEAR
Sharma’s 12 massive sixes on the night took the Indian batsman’s tally in the calendar year to 64 in all formats. That number is the highest which has been achieved by any batman in the history of the game.
South African stalwart AB De Villiers held the previous best with 63 sixes in 2015 while Chris Gayle is third in the list with 59 in 2012.
Most sixes in a calendar year in International cricket:
64* – ROHIT SHARMA, 2017
63 – AB de Villiers, 2015
59 – Chris Gayle, 2012
57 – Shane Watson, 2011#INDvSL— Sampath Bandarupalli (@SampathStats) December 22, 2017
RECORD OPENING STAND FOR INDIA
The 165 runs put together by Sharma and his opening partner KL Rahul is now the record stand for India in that position.
It was the stand-in skipper who dominated that partnership with 118 runs of the 165 coming off his bat before Rahul pressed on the accelerator following the latter’s departure.
SHARMA’S PURPLE 2017
The right-hander has been in sublime form in the calendar year with eight centuries in total across all formats.
Only Virat Kohli with 11 hundreds has more than Sharma in the calendar year – Hashim Amla, Steve Smith and David Warner have all managed six each.
The 30-year-old has six in the ODI format alone with one each coming in the remaining two.
Most international 100s in 2017
11 ~ Virat Kohli
8 ~ Rohit Sharma
6 ~ Hashim Amla
6 ~ Steve Smith
6 ~ David Warner
5 ~ Shikhar Dhawan— Broken Cricket (@BrokenCricket) December 22, 2017
150 PLUS PARTNERSHIP EXPERT
The India opener is the only batsman to be involved in two 150 plus opening stands in T20I cricket – Sharma put on 158 runs with Shikhar Dhawan against New Zealand in New Delhi.
INDIA’S HIGHEST INDIVIDUAL AND TEAM T20I SCORE
Sharma’s 118 is the highest by any Indian batsman in the format while the 260 runs put up by the side at Indore is the biggest for India and the second highest in international cricket.
Only Australia’s 263-5 against the same opposition is better than what Sharma and his men registered on Friday.
