As India get ready to square-off against England in the first T20 at Old Trafford in Manchester, skipper Virat Kohli and his deputy Rohit Sharma will be in a race to get to 2,000 runs in the format.
Kohli is just eight runs shy of the landmark that has only been attained by three batsmen in T20 Internationals history. New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum was the first to get to the mark, followed by his compatriot Martin Guptill.
On Sunday, Pakistan’s Shoaib Malik joined that exclusive club during his unbeaten knock of 37 in the T20 tri-series opener against Zimbabwe.
If Kohli attains the feat on Tuesday, he will become the fastest to get to the 2,000-run mark. McCullum is currently the quickest to the mark after taking 66 innings to get there. Guptill took 68 innings to reach the landmark while Malik is the slowest of the three at 92 innings.
Shoaib Malik reached the landmark a couple of days ago.
Kohli, who has so far played only 55 T20I innings, should easily break that record. He has scored 1, 992 runs in the format at an average of 48.58 and a strike-rate of 137.
Meanwhile, Rohit is 51 runs short of the landmark and he could beat his skipper to the mark given the fact that he plays as an opener. The Mumbai-born batsman has scored 1, 949 runs in the format in 74 innings at an average of 31.43 and a strike-rate of nearly 137.
It will be a straight shootout between the two batsmen as to who becomes the first Indian to get to the mark when the visitors take the field against England on Tuesday.
