Rohit Sharma is on the verge of reaching historic milestone, playing 150th T20I match | Checklist

Rohit Sharma becomes the first men's cricketer to play 150 T20I.

New Delhi: Indian captain Rohit Sharma will be playing his 150th T20I match and this is the most by any men's cricketer. The cricketer will play his 150th match against Afghanistan at the Holkar Stadium in Indore on January 14. So far, Rohit has scored 3853 runs in T20Is including 4 centuries with the highest score of 118 runs.

Ireland's Paul Stirling is second on the list. The Irish all-rounder has played 134 T20I matches so far. The former India captain ranks 11th in the list of most T20I matches as he played 115 T20 international matches and scored 4008 runs including a highest score century of 122* runs which he scored against Afghanistan in the 2022 Asia Cup.

Here is the list of cricketers who have played the most T20I matches:

1. Rohit Sharma, India: 149 T20I matches.

2. Paul Stirling, Ireland: 134 T20I matches

3. GH Dockrell, Ireland: 128 T20I matches.

4. Shoaib Malik, Pakistan: 124 T20I matches.

5. MJ Guptill, New Zealand: 122 T20I matches.

6. Mahmudullah, Bangladesh: 121 T20I matches.

7. Mohammad Hafeez, Pakistan: 119 T20I matches.

India has already won the first T20I where Kohli did not play due to personal reasons, but now the star batsman has joined the Indian squad in Indore and will take part in the second T20I. He will play a T20I after India's semi-final loss of the 2022 T20 World Cup against England in Australia.

It is then imperative for Jitesh Sharma, Washington Sundar and Axar Patel to make a decisive effort against the Afghans to keep themselves in the sight of the selectors, now the move to find a perfect squad for the T20 World Cup is gaining momentum.

That India will not play another T20I series ahead of the big event in June adds to the seriousness of their action against Afghanistan.

Jitesh has every reason to put himself among the leaders as the wicketkeeper-batsman has overtaken Ishan Kishan in the pecking order since replacing the latter during the fourth T20I against Australia in Raipur last year.

The Maharashtra man has had a few useful 30s, but he wouldn't have missed the need for a bigger blow to stake his claim.

Squads

India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh , Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar.

Afghanistan: Ibrahim Zadran (Captain), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (WK), Ikram Alikhil (WK), Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmat Shah, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Karim Janat, Azmatullah Omarzai, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Fareed Ahmad, Naveen Ul Haq, Noor Ahmad, Mohammad Saleem, Qais Ahmad, Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan.