Spotlight on powerplay master Rohit Sharma as focus shifts to T20 World Cup

Listen to Story Rohit Sharma is back in India’s T20I setup and is set to lead the team in their three match T20I series against Afghanistan. The first match of the T20I series will be played at the PCA Stadium in Mohali on Thursday, January 11. India has an unblemished record against Afghanistan in the shortest format of the game, having won four of their five encounters with one ending in a no result.

This will be the first time that Rohit represents India in white ball cricket since the defeat in the final of the 2023 ODI World Cup at the hands of Australia. Rohit, who was phenomenal in the World Cup, will be looking to continue his brilliant white ball form in 2024. Rohit has been in prime touch when it comes to white ball cricket.

He finished as the second highest scorer in the 2023 ODI World Cup, only behind India’s Virat Kohli. The ‘Hitman’ amassed 597 runs in 11 matches at an average of 54.27, while striking at 125.94. He also hit three fifties and a solitary hundred and consistently provided India with a fast start in the powerplay overs.

He will have to replicate his ODI World Cup form in T20I cricket as well, with the 2024 T20 World Cup just a few months away. The T20 World Cup is slated to be held in the West Indies and USA in June. India has been grouped alongside the USA, Canada, Ireland and Pakistan in Group A, and will begin their campaign against Ireland on June 5.

While Rohit has been firing on all cylinders in the 50 over format, his form hasn’t been up to the same standard in T20 cricket. The former Mumbai Indians captain struggled to score runs in the 2023 Indian Premier League, managing just 250 runs in 16 matches, at an average of 20.75 and a strike rate of 132.80.

Rohit last played T20I cricket for India in 2022, when they lost the T20 World Cup semi final at the hands of England. In his last 10 T20Is for India, he’s scored just 176 runs, scoring just one half century. He managed scoring just 116 runs in the 2022 T20 World Cup, averaging 19.33 while striking at 106.42.

Rohit, who is returning to the T20I setup after a gap of over a year, will be part of a new look Indian side. With the introduction of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rinku Singh and Tilak Varma to the T20I squad, Rohit will be batting with a completely different set of players compared to the 2022 T20 World Cup.

, who has been in terrific form over the last year. The two batters have already started opening in Test cricket and have started to form a level of camraderie. The left right opening combination could also bear fruits for India, if Rohit can reignite his T20I form this year. The team management will be hoping that Rohit could replicate his powerplay prowess from the ODI World Cup to the T20I format.

In fact, India head coach in the T20I setup ahead of the Afghanistan series. “I think, we have no doubt that with the kind of quality and skill that people like Rohit and Virat possess, we have no doubt they will be able to find answers. The kind of form that they are in, the way they are playing, they will be able to find answers.

It’s not about left and right, it’s about trying to find answers to different kind of bowling is what we are looking it,” said Dravid. After falling short on the final hurdle in the 2023 ODI World Cup, Rohit will be looking to go one step further in the 2024 T20 World Cup. MS Dhoni remains the only India captain to win a T20 World Cup, triumphing in the inaugural edition in 2007.

Since then, India has reached the final only on one occasion, when they lost to Sri Lanka in 2014. In fact, India’s record in ICC events has been nothing to talk home about, with the Men in Blue failing to win an ICC trophy in over a decade. Rohit will be aiming to end this drought and etch his name in the annals of Indian cricketing history..