Legendary Indian batsman Virat Kohli has now overtaken former captain Sourav Ganguly in the list of new ODI records as he reached Baroda to play his 309th ODI in the series opener against New Zealand.
India is scheduled to start the ODI series against New Zealand from Sunday, January 11 at the Vadodara Cricket Association Stadium in Vadodara. This match will be the last ODI series for Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli before going on a long break before the IPL.
Great Indian batsmen have played in international cricket for years, as the country is largely known for its heritage. Players like Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid are among the players who have played the most matches for India.
Virat Kohli surpasses Sourav Ganguly in a new ODI record
Virat Kohli has been included in the eleven for the first ODI against New Zealand in Vadodara and he will once again be crucial to the Indian middle order when India look to chase the target set by the New Zealand team, who were sent to bowl first against the Blackcaps.
The match was the 309th ODI for the great Virat Kohli, who has been playing for India continuously for the last 18 years. Kohli’s contribution to Indian cricket cannot be summed up in just one article.
However, in a record achievement, he has now overtaken former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly in terms of playing most ODI matches for India. Ganguly, who played 308 matches for India and scored 11221 runs, while Kohli, on the other hand, has now played 309 matches and scored 14557 runs.
| highest attendance | player name |
| 463 | Sachin Tendulkar |
| 347 | ms dhoni |
| 340 | Rahul Dravid |
| 334 | Mohammad Azharuddin |
| 309* | Virat Kohli |
| 308 | Sourav Ganguly |
Despite retiring from Test and T20, Virat is in search of a big international record
Apart from just appearances, Virat Kohli is chasing another big record in international cricket. In terms of records, this batsman has already left behind many legends, especially in the ODI format, in which he is an expert.
Kohli has played a total of 556 matches for India in international cricket. After also retiring from Tests and T20Is, where he finished with almost 13500 runs in both the formats combined, Kohli now continues to play only in the ODI format.
With 27975 runs in his international career, Virat Kohli is now the third highest run-scorer in international cricket across all formats. He is officially the second highest run-scorer in international cricket history, just 42 runs behind legendary Sri Lankan batsman Kumar Sangakkara.
Kohli comes to Baroda with three centuries in the last 5 List A matches
The Indian batsman enters the Vadodara Cricket Association Stadium with three centuries in List A cricket in the last 5 List A matches played last month.
Kohli’s streak of centuries started with a century in the first ODI of the South Africa series. After this, he completed his first century by scoring another century in the second match and then scored a half-century in the series decider and remained unbeaten. Kohli now has 53 centuries in his ODI career.
Kohli then had a stellar performance in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, where he scored a century and a half-century in two consecutive matches. In his last 6 matches in 50-over contests, he has three centuries and three half-centuries to his name, with two centuries and two half-centuries coming in international cricket, while the rest came in domestic cricket.
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