Legendary Indian batter Virat Kohli has now surpassed Sourav Ganguly, the former captain, on the list of a new ODI record as he arrived in Baroda to play his 309th international One-day game with the first match of the series against New Zealand.
India have the ODI series scheduled against New Zealand starting from Sunday, the 11th of January, in the Vadodara Cricket Association Stadium in Vadodara. The matches will mark the last ODI series for Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli before they head to a long break ahead of the IPL.
Great Indian batters have played for years in international cricket, as the nation is largely known for its legacy. The likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, and Rahul Dravid are among the players with the most matches for India.
Virat Kohli surpasses Sourav Ganguly in a new ODI record
Virat Kohli has been named in XI for the first ODI against New Zealand in Vadodara and will once again be key to the Indian middle order when India comes out to chase the target posted by the New Zealand team, who were sent in to bowl first against the Blackcaps.
This match marked the 309th ODI game for the great Virat Kohli, who has been playing for India relentlessly for the past 18 years. The contributions from Kohli to Indian cricket cannot be jotted down in just one article.
However, in a record feat, he has now surpassed former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly for having played the most ODI matches for India. Ganguly, who played 308 matches for India and amassed 11221 runs, while Kohli, on the other hand, has played 309 matches now and has amassed 14557 runs.
| Most Appearances | Player Name |
| 463 | Sachin Tendulkar |
| 347 | MS Dhoni |
| 340 | Rahul Dravid |
| 334 | Mohammad Azharuddin |
| 309* | Virat Kohli |
| 308 | Sourav Ganguly |
Virat chasing a massive International record despite his Test and T20I retirement
Other than just appearances, Virat Kohli is chasing another massive record in international cricket. The batter has already gone past many greats in terms of records, especially in the One-day format, of which he is a master.
Kohli has played a total of 556 matches for India in international cricket. Having retired from Tests and the T20Is as well, where he went down with nearly 13500 runs, combining both formats, Kohli now continues to play the ODI format only.
With 27975 runs in his international career, Virat Kohli now has the third-highest number of runs in international cricket across all formats. He is just 42 runs behind legendary Sri Lankan batter Kumar Sangakkara to become the official second-highest run-getter in international cricket history.
Kohli comes to Baroda with three centuries in the last 5 List A games
The Indian batting legend has entered the Vadodara Cricket Association Stadium with three centuries in List A cricket in the last 5 List A matches that he has played in the last month.
Kohli’s century streak started off with a hundred in the first ODI of the South Africa series. He then backed his first hundred with another 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 took his great form to the Vijay Hazare Trophy, where he scored a century and a half-century in back-to-back games. In his last 6 matches in 50-over contests, he has three centuries and three half-centuries, with two centuries and two half-centuries coming in international cricket, while the remaining are in domestic cricket.
