Highlights
- Virat Kohli has been rested from the 3rd and final T20I vs South Africa.
- The former India captain smashed an unbeaten 49 off 28 balls on Sunday.
- Virat became the fastest to reach 11,000 T20 runs in just 354 matches.
Virat Kohli and KL Rahul have been rested from the 3rd and final T20I vs South Africa on Tuesday. The former Indian captain and KL Rahul will link up with the team ahead of their scheduled departure to Australia on October 6 for the World Cup.
"Yes, both Virat and Rahul have been rested from the final T20I," said a BCCI official. The former India captain smashed an unbeaten 49 off 28 balls on Sunday as India won the second T20I by 16 runs to take an unassailable lead in the three-match series. KL Rahul too smacked 57 off 28 deliveries. The last time Kohli was rested, from the away ODI and T20Is against the West Indies, questions were asked about the decision as he was going through a prolonged lean patch then.
He took a month off the game and did not even touch his bat for the duration of the break, a first for Kohli in 10 years by his own admission.
However, he is back to his best and has been scoring valuable runs for the team since the Asia Cup last month when he scored a much-awaited hundred after almost three years.
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Shreyas Iyer, who was drafted into the side following Deepak Hooda's injury, is expected to take Kohli's place.Since the Asia Cup, Kohli has amassed 404 runs in 10 innings at a strike rate of 141.75, including three fifties and a hundred.
Earlier, in the 2nd T20I match between India and South Africa on Sunday, India star batter Virat Kohli scripted history. He became the fastest batter in the world and the first Indian to reach an elite club.
In the match after scoring 19 runs, Virat became the fastest to reach 11,000 T20 runs in just 354 matches. Only three other players in the world have reached the 11,000-run mark. In the match, Kohli smashed 49 runs off 28 deliveries with seven boundaries and a six.
He is the first Indian to reach the feat. Rohit Sharma is the second Indian to score most runs in T20 matches followed by Shikhar Dhawan.
Following are the T20 runs of Rohit and Shikhar:
- Rohit Sharma: 10,587 runs
- Shikhar Dhawan: 9235 runs
Following is the list of international players with most runs in T20 matches :
- Chris Gayle - 14562 runs in 463 matches
- Keiron Pollard - 11915 runs in 614 matches
- Shoaib Malik - 11902 runs in 481 matches
(Inputs PTI)
