Indian cricket's talisman Virat Kohli scripted his name in the cricketing history books yet again on Sunday as he represented India in his 300th ODI game. As India took on New Zealand in their final ICC Champions Trophy Group A match, a piece of history awaited Kohli. The batter, who also played against the Kiwis in his 200th ODI, became the 7th Indian and 18th player overall to cross the 300 ODIs mark. But, a unique piece of history also awaited Virat as he stepped into his 300th one-day international game. (India vs New Zealand LIVE Updates)
Alongside his 300th ODI, Kohli also became the first player to appear in as many one-day internationals having already played at least 100 Tests and 100 T20Is. Overall, 18 cricketers have gone on to play 300 ODIs for their respective countries but none of them had featured in 100 matches each in the two other formats in international cricket.
List of players to have played 300 ODIs:
- Shahid Afridi: 398
- Inzamam-ul-Haq: 378
- Ricky Ponting: 375
- Wasim Akram: 356
- MS Dhoni: 350
- M Muralidaran: 350
- R Dravid: 344
- M Azharuddin: 334
- T Dilshan: 330
- Jacques Kallis: 328
- Steve Waugh: 325
- Chaminda Vaas: 322
- Sourav Ganguly: 311
- Aravinda de Silva: 308
- Yuvraj Singh: 304
- Shaun Pollock: 303
- Chris Gayle: 301
- Virat Kohli: 300*
In 299 ODIs before the start of the New Zealand encounter, Virat had scored 14,085 runs at an average of 58.20 and a strike rate of 93.41. In the 300th ODI, however, Kohli could only add 11 runs to his total.
Virat registered a number of records to his name, en route 14,000 runs in ODI cricket. He is the fastest player ever to reach 8,000 runs (175 innings), 9,000 runs (194 innings), 10,000 runs (205 innings), 11,000 runs (222 innings), 12,000 runs (242 innings), 13,000 runs (287 innings) and 14,000 runs (299 innings) in the 50-over format for India.
Virat Kohli is coming into the New Zealand clash on the back of a century against Pakistan in India's previous group fixture. Kohli, whose form hasn't been on his side for a while, proved yet again that the 50-over format remains the best suited to his powers. It was the 51st career ODI hundred that Kohli hit against India's arch-rivals in Dubai last Sunday.
However, New Zealand remains the most in-form side that India are facing in the competition so far. Much like Rohit Sharma's army, the Kiwis have also gone unbeaten in the Champions Trophy so far. In fact, they also won the tri-nation ODI series, involving Pakistan and South Africa, before the Champions Trophy commenced.