Why Rohit Sharma Will Be India's Star Man at the 2016 ICC World T20

Picking a key player in the Twenty20 format is a difficult task. For a team like India, whose T20 star has been on the rise, almost every single player has contributed.

However, players who are consistent in this format are usually the ones who become invaluable to their side and Rohit Sharma has done just that.

In the last two years only Virat Kohli and Mohammad Shahzad have scored more runs in T20s than Sharma. When the criteria is narrowed to the last year, Sharma is still third on the list for most runs in the T20 format. He is also the most consistent with three fifties and a century in 13 matches.

Sharma’s biggest strength lies in his ability to accelerate his innings, something which has been especially prevalent when he is batting in one-day cricket.

When Sharma scored that incredible 264 against Sri Lanka in 2014, he took his time. You might not think that when you saw that he had reached the total in 173 balls, but he did. Here's how he broke things down:

The first 50 came off 72 balls, his 100 off 100 balls, the 150 off 125 balls, he reached 200 off 151 balls and moved onto 250 off 166 balls before, finally, his total was 264 off 173 balls.

As an opener, this ability to accelerate an innings is incredibly important, especially in the T20 format. While India certainly aren’t lacking in big-hitters who can come in and obliterate a team lower down the order, that Sharma can set a foundation and help the team build from there is vital.

If that same player can stay at the crease and launch the innings himself once he’s played himself in, his value rises.

When Sharma scored his maiden T20 century against South Africa last year, he did exactly that. His first 24 runs came off 22 balls and he moved to 50 off 39 balls. In T20 cricket, that's a fairly average strike rate.

However, he brought up the next 50 runs that took him to his hundred off just 23 balls. Sure, South Africa’s dubious bowling helped in this instance, but a player still has to stick it out and pick the bad balls.

A few years ago Sharma had earned the moniker “No Hit Sharma” in certain Twitter circles. Considering his returns in cricket were modest until 2013, the moniker wasn’t entirely unfair.  

While he still has much to prove in the Test format, in T20s, Sharma has shown that having the heart and patience of a Test cricketer with the brain and aggression of a T20 cricketer can go a very long way.

Sharma is definitely most effective when India bat first (averaging 35.75 vs 28.76 when batting second) he has scored five fifties both batting first and batting second.

That average rises to 56.66 in matches where India have batted first and won, which might be an indication that No Hit has become a hit and an instrumental part in setting India up for impressive victories in the T20 format.