Team India will make its 1000th appearance in ODIs on Sunday when Rohit Sharma and his men take the field against West Indies in Ahmedabad. India will become the first team in the history of the format to play 1000 ODIs; incidentally, the game will also mark Rohit's maiden appearance as India's full-time captain in the format.
Rohit, former captain Virat Kohli, and head coach Rahul Dravid shared special messages to commemorate the occasion.
“Tomorrow is going to be a historic day for Indian cricket as we go on to play the 1000th ODI. I would like to congratulate all players who took part in the long journey,” Rohit Sharma said in a video posted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on its official Twitter profile.
“It's a great honour to captain in the game, a privilege to lead the boys. Our journey has been fantastic. So many players have come and represented the country, put their best foot forward. It will be nothing different for us, we will keep raising the bar for Indian cricket.”
Kohli, meanwhile, reflected on the talent India has had over the years and expressed his pride at having played a part in Indian ODI history.
{{/usCountry}}Kohli, meanwhile, reflected on the talent India has had over the years and expressed his pride at having played a part in Indian ODI history.
{{/usCountry}}“It has gone from strength to strength. We had a couple of transitions that went very well which shows you the bench strength and kind of talent we had in this country. I'm proud of having had such a long career with Indian cricket team and been part of so many games which have eventually brought us to the landmark of 1000 ODIs. It's a big number and a testimony to how many matches played over the year,” said the former India captain.
Dravid, meanwhile, noted that the number of ODIs India played increased exponentially since the 1983 World Cup triumph under the captaincy of Kapil Dev.
“It's been an incredible journey for India from 1974 when we played our first one-day game. (We) didn't play a lot of one-day games in our history over the first 10-12 years but the 1983 World Cup changed that a lot to an extent,” said Dravid.
“It was an eye-opener for everyone just on the importance of one-day cricket. Hosting the 2 World Cups in 1987 and 19996 changed a lot of things. One-day cricket became very popular with the fans in the 90s and we started to play a lot of ODIs since which reflects on our success in the World Cups of 1983 and 2011. The number of games that India play has increased manifold. The game has grown in this country and it has become one of the top format.”