Riding on twin fifties from captain Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma along with Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s miserly spell, India defeated England in the fifth and final T20 International by 36 runs to clinch the series 3-2 at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Saturday.
Put into bat, Rohit and Kohli opened for the first time in the shortest format as the duo forged a 94-run stand. Rohit smashed a 34-ball 64, which is now the fifth-highest score by an Indian opener against England. On the other hand, Kohli batted all the 20-overs as he remained unbeaten on 80, which is the second-highest score by an Indian opener against the Three Lions.
Highest scores by IND openers vs ENG
| Player | Runs | SR | Ground | Start Date |
| Rohit Sharma | 100* | 178.57 | Bristol | 08 July 2018 |
| Virat Kohli | 80* | 153.85 | Ahmedabad | 20 March 2021 |
| KL Rahul | 71 | 151.06 | Nagpur | 29 January 2017 |
| Virender Sehwag | 68 | 130.76 | Durban | 19 September 2007 |
| Rohit Sharma | 64 | 188.24 | Ahmedabad | 20 March 2021 |
Meanwhile, Kohli also became the captain with the most fifty-plus scores in the T20Is as he brought up his 12th fifty while leading the Indian team.
Most fifty+ scores as a captain in T20Is
| Player | Matches | Innings | Hundreds | Fifties | 50+ scores |
| Virat Kohli (IND) | 45 | 43 | 0 | 12 | 12 |
| Kane Williamson (NZ) | 49 | 49 | 0 | 11 | 11 |
| Aaron Finch (AUS) | 44 | 44 | 1 | 9 | 10 |
| Eoin Morgan (ENG) | 59 | 54 | 0 | 9 | 9 |
| Faf du Plessis (SA/World) | 40 | 40 | 1 | 7 | 8 |
The 32-year-old also surpassed Australia T20 captain Aaron Finch to become the highest-scoring skipper in the shortest format. Virat now has 1502 runs in 43 innings with Finch 40 runs behind.
In reply, Dawid Malan's 46-ball 68 and Jos Buttler's 34-ball 52 went in vain as the hosts restricted England to 188/8 in their 20 overs.
During England's innings, Malan became the fastest cricketer to reach 1000 runs in just 24 T20Is.
Fastest to 1000 T20I runs
| Player | Opposition | Ground | Innings |
| David Malan (ENG) | v India | Ahmedabad | 24 |
| Babar Azam (PAK) | v New Zealand | Dubai (DSC) | 26 |
| Virat Kohli (IND) | v South Africa | Dharamsala | 27 |
| Aaron Finch (AUS) | v Sri Lanka | Melbourne | 29 |
| KL Rahul (IND) | v West Indies | Hyderabad (Deccan) | 29 |
India and England will resume their rivalry when they take on each other in the first of the three-match ODI series, starting on Tuesday, March 23 in Pune.
Feature image courtesy: Jewel SAMAD / AFP
