Mohali, Sep 20 (IANS): As India battled Australia in the first T20I of the three-match series, opener KL Rahul made it to the record books as the third fastest to reach the 2000-run milestone in the shortest format of the game.

Rahul struck a 35-ball 55, hitting four boundaries and three sixes after Australia skipper Aaron Finch won the toss and elected to field.

In the process, the 30-year-old from Karnataka completed his 2000 runs in T20I cricket in his 58th innings.

He thus became the third fastest to reach the 2000-run mark behind Pakistan skipper Babar Azam, who took 52 innings to reach the mark, and India's former skipper Virat Kohli, who did it in 56 innings.

Before this match, Rahul had scored 1963 runs from 57 innings of 61 matches in T20Is.

During the innings break, Rahul said he used his experience of playing here at Mohali during the Indian Premier League (IPL) as it takes some time to get used to the bounce of the pitch.

"It looks (like) a good pitch. It took some time to get used to the bounce of the pitch. I have played here in the IPL and I knew the shots that work here.

"I used my experience. I always work on hitting on both sides of the ground and get into good positions. Fortunately, the ball was in the areas where I could hit it for sixes. Glad they came off the middle of the bat," he signed off.