Virat Kohli can equal this MS Dhoni record with a win over Australia at Indore
Virat Kohli-led Indian cricket team lead Australia 2-0 having won the first two games. If they win the third match on Sunday, the 28-year-old Indian captain will match the record set by MS Dhoni.
Virat Kohli is on the verge of equalling MS Dhoni’s record of most consecutive wins in ODI cricket, if his team manages to get the better of Australia for the third time in the ongoing five-match series.
The Virat Kohli-led Indian cricket team is leading the series 2-0 having won the first two ODIs played at Chennai and Kolkata. If they win the third match on Sunday at the Holkar Stadium in Indore, the 28-year-old Indian captain will match the record set by his predecessor.
India have so far played 37 ODIs under the captaincy of Kohli, and have won 29 of those games. India have been on a roll over the last few months, having not lost a single game since their tour of Sri Lanka.
The Men in Blue won all five ODIs in Sri Lanka as well as the three Tests and the one-off T20I, and the two wins against Australia at the start extends their winning run in ODI cricket to eight matches.
India were last defeated in ODI cricket by the West Indies in July this year, when the Caribbean team won their contest at North Sound in Antigua by 11 runs. Since then, India have won each of their ODIs.
If India manage to beat Australia on Sunday at Indore, Kohli will be equalling Dhoni’s record of most consecutive ODI victories for an Indian captain — nine wins — recorded from February 2008 to January 2009.
It will be yet another feather in Kohli’s cap. In the last game at Kolkata, Kohli became only the third Indian batsman after Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid to have scored more than 10,000 runs in the matches that India have won across all formats.
Kohli, who fell for 92, missed out on surpassing former Australia captain Ricky Ponting’s record of 30 ODI centuries. Sachin Tendulkar holds the record for most number of ODI tons with 49, Kohli is currently level with Ponting’s haul of 30 centuries.
If Kohli manages to score a ton on Sunday and win the game for India — possibility of the latter being greater since Australia are struggling with their batting — it would indeed be a special day for the Indian captain.