Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are set to achieve another feat together at the prestigious Lord’s Cricket Ground in London on Sunday. They are set to become the first Indian pair to play 400 international matches together.
The pair will surpass the previous Indian record of Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, who played 391 international matches together. This also shows his longevity and passion for the format and the game.
Virat and Rohit have been the backbone of Indian cricket across all formats over the years. Despite retiring from Tests and T20Is, he has continued his dominance in the ODI format. On his scheduled days, he is still a match-winner for the Men in Blue in the 50-over format.
When did Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma play their first ODI match?
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma played international cricket together for the first time on 18 August 2008 in the first ODI against Sri Lanka in Dambulla. In this match, Kohli made his international debut, while Rohit was already playing his first ODI for India. In that game, Kohli opened the innings and scored 12 runs, while Rohit, batting in the middle order, scored 19 runs.
Now, 18 years later, the iconic pair of Virat and Rohit, who have won many matches for India in ODI cricket, will continue to play and register a unique record which no Indian cricket pair has ever achieved. Playing 400 matches together is an amazing achievement for both these cricketers and both have also led India to many ICC trophies.
Records of pair of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma achieved a milestone in the second ODI against England in Cardiff as they became the third pair to score over 8,000 runs for India across all three formats. Both of them made a partnership of 60 runs to break the record of Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid. In that partnership, Kohli contributed 17 runs and King Kohli contributed 36 runs.
Kohli and Rohit hold the record for the highest partnership of runs among active cricketers in ODI cricket. They have 5679* runs in this format, the most among active cricketers in this format and the third most overall, and the second most runs among an Indian pair, behind only Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly.
Will Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma be seen together after the England series?
According to reports, perhaps Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will be seen playing together for the last time on Sunday, because citing poor form in this series and the increasing age of the former India captain, Rohit may be dropped and forced to retire from ODI cricket.
However, there have been different reports from different sources as some say that Rohit will probably not retire and Yashasvi Jaiswal will be given a chance to test his ability in the ODI format in the upcoming series against West Indies. India would like to win the third and last ODI match to win the series.
