Rohit Sharma will head into the T20I series against Sri Lanka approaching a couple of major milestones that will be landmark moments in his celebrated career in the shortest format of the game. Rohit will lead in a 3-match series against the visitors from February 24 o 27.

Rohit Sharma is all set to overtake Pakistan all-rounder Shoaib Malik on the list of players with the most appearances in T20I cricket. Rohit is already the most-capped Indian player and if he plays all 3 matches against Sri Lanka, he will set a new world record, overtaking Malik’s tally of 124 matches.

Only 9 cricketers have played more than 100 matches in men’s T20Is and Rohit is the only Indian in the elite list. MS Dhoni (98) is second on the list of Indians with the most T20I caps while Virat Kohli is 3rd with 97 matches. The former captain, however, has been rested from the 3-match series against Sri Lanka will be played in Lucknow and Dharamsala.

Most capped players in T20I cricket

1. Shoaib Malik (Pakistan) – 124
2. Rohit Sharma (India) – 122
3. Mohammad Hafeez (Pakistan) – 119
4. Eoin Morgan (England) – 115
5. Mahmudullah (Bangladesh) – 113

On the eve of the 1st T20I against Bangladesh, Rohit dismissed concerns about his fitness and said he is hopeful of being available for most matches despite taking over as the captain of the team across all formats. Rohit has been bogged down by injury issues in the recent past. He missed the tour of South Africa but the selection committee is confident of Rohit’s fitness in the lead up to the T20 World Cup and the 50-over World Cup next year.

“At the moment, I have no issues and looking forward to playing all the games,” Rohit said on Wednesday.

“The workload always depends on what happens thereafter and you take day by day and understand what you do and if a break is needed, you take a break and someone else comes in.”

Meanwhile, Rohit also has the opportunity to overtake Martin Guptill and become the leading run-scorer in T20I cricket. Rohit is currently at the 3rd spot behind Guptill (3299) and Virat Kohli (3296). The India captain, with 3263 runs, needs 37 more runs to become the all-time leading scorer in the shortest format of the game.

Meanwhile, Rohit also needs to score 63 runs in the first T20I if he is to break Pakistan star Babar Azam’s record for the fastest to 1000 runs as captain in T20Is. Rohit has 937 runs in 25 innings as captain at a staggering average of 40.73 and a strike rate of over 150.

MOST RUNS IN T20IS