India vs New Zealand: Rohit Sharma's T20 Captaincy In Numbers

With Team India set to face New Zealand in a three-match T20I series, all eyes will be on Rohit Sharma. With Virat Kohli stepping down from T20I captaincy after the T20 World Cup, the swashbuckling opener has been appointed as skipper in the shortest format. Already a skipper for Mumbai Indians (MI), the 34-year-old has already captained India's T20I side on 19 occasions, registering 15 wins and four defeats. Against New Zealand, Rohit will be up against a team who defeated them in the recent T20 World Cup and in the 2019 ODI World Cup. Despite a better head-to-head record in T20Is against New Zealand since 2019, the Men in Blue have always found it hard to defeat the Blackcaps in ICC tournaments.

It is also worth mentioning that two of Rohit's defeats as T20I captain have come against New Zealand.

Under Rohit as captain, the Indian T20I team also has a win percentage of 78.95 percent, which is the second best among 53 skippers in T20Is from Test playing nations. He is ahead of the likes of Sarfaraz Ahmed and Temba Bavuma but behind former Afghanistan skipper Asghar Afghan. The former international cricketer captained Afghanistan in 52 T20Is, registering 42 wins and 10 defeats with a win percentage of 80.77.

The Mumbai cricketer has also proved his mettle in all franchise T20 cricket and has led Mumbai Indians to five Indian Premier League (IPL) titles as captain.

Across T20s, there are only 19 captains who have led their side in 100 or more T20 games and Rohit has the second-best win percentage among them. The 2007 T20 World Cup winner has served as captain in 153 T20s so far, winning 96 matches and losing 57 fixtures with a 62.75-win percentage. He is only behind Shoaib Malik, who has captained in 133 matches with a win percentage of 63.91. 

As T20I captain, Rohit has smashed 712 runs, bagging two centuries and five half-centuries. He is the only T20I skipper with two tons.

Rohit will be aiming to put in a winning start as full-time T20I skipper with India and New Zealand set to face each other in Jaipur for the first T20I. The second T20I will take place in Ranchi on November 19, followed by the third T20I to be hosted in Kolkata on November 21.

Topics mentioned in this article

Cricket India Cricket Team New Zealand Cricket Team Rohit Sharma