Two teams with totally opposite results are gearing up to compete in a 3-match ODI series in India. While Team India is coming from a humiliating 0-3 whitewash series against New Zealand, South Africa is coming from a dominating 3-0 whitewash series against Australia in South Africa. The last time the two teams met in an ODI series was almost 2 years back when India defeated South Africa 5-1 in a completely one-sided affair. However, currently, India has almost 5 new players while South Africa has a completely new squad and therefore it would be interesting to see who this time will take the series. The series will kick off in Dharamsala on March 12 and the second and third matches will be played in Lucknow and Kolkata, respectively.
Virat Kohli looks to overtake Sachin Tendulkar’s ODI records in 3-match series
Talking about the records that can be broken during this series as related to the Indian skipper, Virat Kohli has a lot to keep an eye on. Kohli went through a modest series against New Zealand across the formats where he managed just 218 runs in 11 innings with just 1 fifty during the entire tour. However, the Indian skipper now has a chance to return to his run-making ways. Kohli presently has 1287 runs against South Africa from 27 matches at 64.35 with four centuries and six fifties and would make the most of home conditions to break his century-less streak in international cricket.
He is currently a few runs behind the former Indian skippers Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, who have amassed 1313 (29 matches, Avg: 50.50) and 1309 (36 matches, Avg: 39.66) ODI runs against Proteas. This could be a perfect occasion for Kohli to end his lean run while overtaking two of his idols. However, overall, Sachin Tendulkar leads the list with 2001 runs from 57 matches at 35.73.
Apart from this, Virat Kohli is eyeing a major landmark as he is just 133 runs away from 12,000 runs in ODI cricket. Kohli has the opportunity to break Sachin Tendulkar’s record for the fastest man to get to 12,000 ODI runs. Tendulkar got to the landmark in 300 innings, while Kohli has 11,867 in just 239 innings (248 matches).
Also, by playing 2 more matches and Kohli will become the eighth Indian player to feature in more than 250 ODI matches.
By scoring 1 century more, Kohli will equal Sachin Tendulkar’s feat of most centuries by a player at home and will also have the joint second-most number of international centuries alongside Australia’s Ricky Ponting (71).
Apart from these, by scoring 135 runs more, Kohli will become the second Indian after Sachin to amass 5000 ODI runs at home and will become the fastest Indian ever to the feat.
