As India defeated England in the second T20I at Edgbaston on Saturday, Rohit Sharma came close to an unique record as the captain. 

Sharma, who is India’s T20I and ODI captain, has registered 19 consecutive wins since 2019 till now. The 35-year-old currently sits one shy of equalling Australian great Ricky Ponting’s record of winning 20 consecutive matches in men’s internationals, a feat yet to be matched by anyone since 2003.

In his role leading the Indian cricket team, Rohit Sharma is unbeaten across all formats. His best win percentage, however, is in the T20Is, with an amazing 86.7%, followed by Afghanistan’s Asghar Afghan with 80.8%.

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Apart from being a dependable skipper, Sharma has also established himself as a trustworthy batter, scoring 3368 in the T20Is and 9283 runs in ODIs, a considerable feat.

“It was a great performance from ball one. The batters showed an intent,” Rohit said to the reporters after beating England. 

Hardik prepared himself wonderfully from the IPL. His bowling is something he wanted to do more of. He came in, bowled quick, and got rewards for his variation,” he added. 

“The opening bowlers swung the ball well which stopped England’s batters in the powerplay. We took it into consideration with the toss,” he continued.

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Apart from chasing the record set by Ponting in 2003, Sharma is also after yet another milestone, which he will focus on achieving in the third T20I match. The Indian batter currently has 298 boundaries in T20Is, equal with Virat Kohli. Two more in the next match will see the Indian skipper becoming the second batter in the world to hit 300 boundaries in the T20Is, followed by Ireland’s Paul Stirling. 

India is currently touring England, where they are set to play three T20Is and as many ODIs. Saturday’s win over the Three Lions was the Men in Blue’s second T20I win, with the next scheduled to be played at Trent Bridge on July 10. 

The Indians will also be playing three ODI matches on July 12, 14 and 17 respectively before they leave for a tour of the West Indies.