IND vs NZ 2nd T20I: Shreyas Iyer on brink of breaking Rohit Sharma’s record

India’s T20I captain Shreyas Iyer is closing in on breaking former skipper Rohit Sharma's record as India gear up to face New Zealand in the second T20I at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch on Saturday (Oct 24). Iyer has been in superb T20I form lately, scoring his maiden hundred in the format against the West Indies in the series opener earlier this month. Even against New Zealand in the 1st T20I, the right-hander scored a match-winning 42 off 28 balls, helping India complete their highest T20I run chase.

Iyer has a chance to surpass Rohit to become India’s T20I captain with the most runs in a calendar year. Since taking over the captaincy in the shortest format from Suryakumar Yadav just after IPL 2026, Iyer has led India in 22 T20I matches, scoring 632 runs. For him to go past his former India captain and veteran Rohit, Iyer needs to score 25 more. Rohit scored 656 runs in 29 T20Is in 2022 as the captain.

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However, Pakistan’s talismanic batter Babar Azam leads the list for scoring 939 runs in 29 matches as a T20I captain in 2021, the same year in which he led Pakistan’s most famous run chase against India in the T20 World Cup in Dubai. Japan's T20I captain Kendel Kadowaki-Fleming is second on the list, having scored 840 runs in 20 matches in 2024.

Meanwhile, not only can Iyer break Rohit’s T20I record, but he can also get past Babar’s record for the most T20 runs scored as a captain in a calendar year. In 2026, while leading a T20 team, including Punjab Kings in the IPL, Iyer has amassed 1,130 runs and needs 95 more to surpass Babar’s tally of 1,225, which he recorded as a T20 captain in 2021.

Team India leads the five-match T20I series 1-0, after winning the first match by four wickets. Chasing 226, India scored 230 for six in 19.4 overs, with opener Sanju Samson topping the run-scoring chart with 67 from just 33 balls, hitting four sixes and eight fours.

India will be without Ishan Kishan for the second T20I, with teen batting prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi in line for his return to the playing XI.