India women's team skipper Harmanpreet Kaur made history on Monday, becoming the first player – male or female to feature in 150 T20I matches. In the process, she also went past Team India captain Rohit Sharma who holds the record among men by appearing in 148 games in the 20-over version of the sport.

Harmanpreet Kaur's milestone came in the T20 World Cup clash against Ireland at St George's Park in Gqeberha.

Following the India women's captain in the format is Suzie Bates of New Zealand, who played 143 T20I matches. Among Indian women, vice-captain Smriti Mandhana with 115 games, comes second after Harmanpreet Kaur.

Harmanpreet Kaur had matched Rohit Sharma's landmark in India's T20 World Cup opener against West Indies in South Africa before going past him with his appearance against England last week.

“It means a lot, I got an emotional message from my team-mates. Thanks to BCCI and ICC, we are able to play so many games,” Harmanpreet Kaur said at the toss.

After Harmanpreet Kaur surpassed Rohit Sharma, Indian cricket admirers took to social media to hail her achievement.

 

Speaking about Rohit Sharma, he scripted a unique world record in the first Test against Australia in Nagpur earlier this month.

With his majestic knock of 120 off 212 deliveries against the Pat Cummins-led side at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Rohit Sharma became the first player in international cricket to score a century in all forms of the game, both as a batter and a captain.

Additionally, Rohit Sharma became the first Indian skipper to score hundreds across formats.

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It was Rohit Sharma’s ninth hundred in Test matches and his eighth at home. Besides, it was his first Test century as captain of the Indian Cricket Team after he became in charge of the side after Virat Kohli stepped down from the leadership role last year.

With his heroics in the City of Oranges, Rohit Sharma became a member of a select band of captains who have scored centuries in all three forms of the sport.

Before Rohit Sharma, current Pakistan skipper Babar Azam, South Africa’s Faf du Plessis, and Sri Lanka’s Tillakaratne Dilshan were the only captains to reach the milestone in T20Is, ODIs, and Tests.

Rohit Sharma’s record-breaking hundred also left many former cricketers in awe, with former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar lauding him for his masterful knock in Vidarbha.

“One important factor was Rohit Sharma. Rohit actually set a template for batters around the world including some from his own team on how to bat on pitches like this,” Sanjay Manjrekar wrote in his column for Hindustan Times.

“Generally the first imperative for a batter when the ball is released by the bowler is estimating the length, where it’s likely to pitch with regards to where you are standing,” he added.

“If it is going to be a fair distance away then you go on the back foot, which means going deep into your batting crease and giving yourself time to watch the ball and have control over its behaviour,” Sanjay Manjrekar elaborated.

“If it’s going to pitch very close to you then you get on to the front foot and have that bat so close to the pitching of the ball that you just stub out any possible surprises the ball may have for you. This is the gospel of batting,” Sanjay Manjrekar continued.

After Rohit Sharma's excellent show in Nagpur, he led the Indian cricket team to another victory over Australia in Delhi, which ensured a 2-0 lead for the hosts in the four-match Test series.

“Sometimes you got to keep it simple and not complicate too much about what is happening. Yesterday they were about 62 (61) for one in 12 overs which is more than five runs per over. I could see we were panicking a little and we were trying to change fields way too many times,” Rohit Sharma said in the post-match presser after India's six-wicket triumph.

“In the morning, I just wanted to tell those three guys (spinners) to keep it calm. We don't need to change field as often as we did last evening. We keep it there, we keep it tight, and let batters make that mistake,” Rohit Sharma pointed out.

“I could sense it they wanted to play that way (aggressive) and that wicket was not where you could come out and just keep playing the shots,” the India captain concluded.

The third Test between India and Australia will begin in Indore on March 1.

India's squad for the third and fourth Test against Australia: Rohit Sharma (Captain), K L Rahul, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat.