cricket

Updated: Feb 27, 2019 10:57 IST

India stalwarts Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Mahendra Singh Dhoni are on the cusp of achieving respective milestones in the second and final T20I against Australia in Bengaluru on Wednesday. The ‘Men in Blue’ will be eying a win in order to level the two-match series after losing the first T20I in Visakhapatnam by three wickets.

The onus will be on batsman to turn the team’s fortunes around after an uncharacteristic performance in Vizag that saw the team post just 126/7 in 20 overs. All eyes will be on the Indian hard-hitters to get some runs under their belt ahead of the five-match ODI series.

Also Read: MS Dhoni form in Bengaluru a cause of concern for Australia in 2nd T20I

Opener Rohit is on the cusp of becoming the leading six-hitter in the shortest format of the game. He is just one six behind the likes of Windies hard-hitter Chris Gayle and New Zealand star opener Martin Guptill in the illustrious list.

103 in 52 innings: Chris Gayle (WI)

103 in 74 innings: Martin Guptil (NZ)

102 in 86 innings: Rohit Sharma (IND)

91 in 70 innings: Brendon McCullum (NZ)

While as for Kohli and Dhoni, the duo is involved in a race of their own as to who will get to 50 T20I sixes first. Dhoni has 49 maximums to his name so far while Kohli has hit 48. It will be interesting to see which player among these two will become the fourth Indian to hit 50 T20I sixes.

102 in 86 innings: Rohit Sharma

74 in 51 innings: Yuvraj Singh

56 in 66 innings: Suresh Raina

49 in 84 innings: MS Dhoni

48 in 61 innings: Virat Kohli

Other that these personal milestones, the players will be eager to achieve a series-saving win at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. India could replace Umesh with Siddharth Kaul or bring in all-rounder Vijay Shankar to beef-up the batting department.

The hosts played with a long tail in Vizag and that impacted their final total following an inexplicable batting collapse from 69 for one in the ninth over.

Also Read: Chinnaswamy pitch expected to be batting-friendly

Pant, a strong contender for a World Cup berth, will be itching to perform after getting out cheaply on Sunday, and so will be Dinesh Karthik, who is left with just one game to make a compelling contribution before the World Cup.

Australia, on the other hand, will be fancying a rare series win against India in recent times, especially after losing the Test and ODI series at home to Kohli’s team.