New Zealand's Martin Guptill | Photo: AFP
EDINBURGH: New Zealand opener Martin Guptill went past India captain Rohit Sharma to become the highest run scorer in T20 Internationals, during the first game against Scotland here.
The 35-year-old talismanic batter achieved the milestone on Wednesday en route his 31-ball 40.
Guptill's opening partner Finn Allen also scored a stroke-filled maiden century (101 off 56 balls) in the shortest format, as the Black Caps posted 225/5 batting first.
In reply, the hosts were restricted to 157/8 with Ish Sodhi claiming 4/28 and Mitchell Santner picking up 2/23.
During the course of his innings, Guptill surpassed Rohit, who had become the highest run-scorer in T20Is (3,379) earlier this year.
Guptill now has 3,399 runs in T20Is, 20 ahead of the India skipper.
Apart from Rohit, Guptill is closely followed by former India captain Virat Kohli (3,308), Ireland's ODI skipper Paul Stirling (2,894), and Australian captain Aaron Finch, who is fifth in the list with 2,855 runs.
In 2021, Kohli became the first batter to breach the 3000-run mark when he achieved the rare feat during the second T20I against England in Ahmedabad, surpassing another New Zealand great and former captain, Brendon McCullum, who was, in fact, the first to cross the 2000-run mark.
