The first T20I of this series against Sri Lanka was a significant landmark for the West Indies side - and for one man in particular. Tonight in Pallekele, captain Kieron Pollard made his 500th appearance in a T20 match, becoming the first player ever to do so.

Whilst Pollard has been at the top of the tree appearance-wise for a while now, today was clearly a big deal. Fellow Caribbean veterans DJ Bravo and Chris Gayle have made a huge number of appearances down the years, all over the world; yet for Pollard to surpass even their longevity to become the first man to reach that 500th mark, is truly a remarkable achievement.

An enjoyable extra to all the celebrations was the fact that, going into the match, Pollard needed 34 runs to reach 10,000 in the format, and in doing so bring up a historic statistical double. With a huge six of Isuru Udana, Pollard managed to hit that milestone, before being dismissed next ball - but no matter. He is now only the second player in history - after Chris Gayle - to score 10,000+ runs in a T20 career.

The sheer weight of runs is clearly impressive - the fact so few people have made this many runs is testament to that - but what's even more impressive for Pollard is that he's done so whilst scoring at an astonishing rate. His career T20 strike rate is above 150, a marker of the most attacking batsmen in the world, and when you compare those with a similar number of runs across their career, Pollard is well ahead of the pack. Very few have been able to consistently strike at over 150, but almost nobody has been able to combine that with scoring big runs over a prolonged period of time.

One of the reasons for Pollard's top class performance, over such a long stretch, is that he has been able to decimate almost any kind of bowler. He scores at 8.25rpo against left-arm wrist spinners, a rate which almost every batsman would be happy with as an overall rate - but that's the slowest he scores against any bowling type. Against left arm orthodox, and right arm pace, he absolutely flies along at above 9rpo. As the T20 game has evolved, and become more and more about targeting batsmen with their weakest "match-up", this level of versatility in terms of scoring rate has proven to be a real asset.

On top of this flexibility in terms of scoring rate, is Pollard's flexibility in terms of role. He is, and has always been, primarily a death overs hitter, and that is reflected in his ability to go hard at the end of the innings. In the last five overs, Pollard charges along at just under 12rpo - that is truly elite. However, his ability to tick over in the middle overs at just under 8rpo has made him a more complete T20 batsman, and had undoubtedly added to his longevity.

In essence, what has allowed Pollard to reach these twin milestones in the shortest form of the game is that he has very, very few weaknesses. His all-round game, against all types of bowling at all stages of the match, mean that he is rarely unable to influence the game - and we haven't even touched on his bowling. If Pollard can maintain a similar rate of performance with the bat for another few years, he has more than enough time to pass Gayle's runs record before retirement - if he can play until 37/38 at the same level which he's managed in recent times. For the game as a whole, we can only hope he sticks around long enough to give it a good go.