India opener KL Rahul on Sunday set a new world record of most runs in a bilateral T20I series with 224 in five matches against New Zealand.
Rahul was dismissed for 45 in the fifth and final match against the Black Caps in Mount Maunganui which helped him surpass the previous record of 223 which was jointly held by Mozambique’s Damiao Couana (vs Malawi in 2019-20) and New Zealand opener Colin Munro (vs West Indies in 2017-18).
Rahul, who averaged 56 in this series, registered scores of 45, 39, 27, 57 not out and 56. The next-best batsman on the list is Munro, who has managed 178 runs in 5 innings at 35.60.
Former Kiwi skipper Ross Taylor, who with Sunday’s game became the first male Kiwi cricketer to play 100 T20Is, is third with 166 runs at an average of 41.50.
Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma, who led the Indian team at Bay Oval before sustaining calf-injury, reached a major landmark when he came in to bat after Sanju Samson’s dismissal in the second over.
Rohit, who was playing his 108th T20 international, walked in to bat for the 100th time in the shortest format of the game. He is only the second batsman to play 100 innings in T20Is after Pakistan’s Shoaib Malik, who is at the top with 105 innings.
India pacer Jasprit Bumrah, on the other hand, became the seventh Indian to play 50 T20Is on Sunday.