Fresh from his match-winning century against Pakistan in the Champions Trophy, Virat Kohli is set to reach another milestone when India face New Zealand in their concluding Group A fixture in Dubai on Sunday.
The match will be Kohli’s 300th ODI, making him only the 22nd player and seventh Indian to reach that many caps in 50-over internationals. Sachin Tendulkar’s 463 career ODIs lead that list.
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With both India and New Zealand already through to the semifinals, the winner of Sunday’s game will finish on top of Group A.
Kohli, who has already retired from T20Is, scored 100 not out to help India beat Pakistan in their last match. It was the first ODI century for the 36-year-old batting legend since November 2023.
“That (300) is a lot of ODI games and a lot of international games and he’s been… I mean words fall short to express how good a player he’s been and what a great servant of Indian cricket he’s been,” KL Rahul said while talking to reporters in Dubai on Friday.
“Really happy to see that he got the hundred (in the) last game and he’s been batting really well. For a player of his calibre, it was about time that he scores that big century and a match-winning century,” he added.
“Virat and Rohit (Sharma), they are the senior players and you are always looking up to them to step up and score when the big games come. Hopefully there’s many more hundreds left for him (Kohli) and many more games of international cricket.”
During his century against Pakistan, the 51st of his ODI career, Kohli also crossed 14,000 ODI runs to join Sachin Tendulkar and Kumar Sangakkara as only the third batter to accomplish the feat.
Talking about Kohli’s 300th ODI appearance, New Zealand all-rounder Michael Bracewell said: “I think that’s obviously a massive achievement. Three hundred games across a career is very impressive and then to put that in just one format is amazing. I think it’s a testament to the way that he’s gone about his career.”
Bracewell played with Kohli at Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the Indian Premier League and said he was looking forward to facing him on Sunday.
“I saw it first hand at Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), how he sort of prepared for each match and it’s very impressive,” said Bracewell, who has played with Kohli in the Indian Premier League.