India vs Australia: Virat Kohli eyes Ricky Ponting, Sachin Tendulkar feats in ODI series

After having registered a convincing Test series win and booking the World Test Championship final berth, the action now shifts to ODI format.

India and Australia will play a 3-match ODi series from Friday, March 17. Most of the main protagonists of the Test series win, including Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel, will be in action in the ODI series, which will be India’s last assignment before the start of IPL 2023.

All eyes will be on Virat Kohli as the star batter will look to continue from where he left in the 4th and final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Ahmedabad. After having scored a drought-ending Test century and making it a big score (186), Kohli will be keen on continuing his good run of form.

Before the Test series, Kohli was in fine form in the ODIs, hitting two hundreds in 3 matches against Sri Lanka at the start of the New Year. However, he had an indifferent series against New Zealand wherein he managed scores of 8, 11, and 36. Nonetheless, the confidence of having scored a Test hundred will keep Kohli in a good head space in the ODI series.

Virat Kohli is eyeing major milestones in the 3-match series which will be played in Mumbai, Visakhapatnam and Chennai. The former captain is 191 runs away from becoming the 5th batter to complete 13,000 runs in ODI cricket after Sachin Tendulkar (18426), Kumar Sangakkara (14,234), Ricky Ponting (13,704), and Sanath Jayasuriya (13,430).

Virat Kohli is also 3 hundreds away from equalling Sachin Tendulkar’s world record of most ODI hundreds (49). Notably, Kohli has hit 3 hundreds in a span of the last 4 months after having ended his long wait for the ODI century in Bangladesh last December.

Meanwhile, Kohli also looks to overtake Ricky Ponting in the list of batters with most runs at home in ODI cricket. He is currently third on the list behind Sachin Tendulkar and Ponting.

MOST ODI RUNS AT HOME

PLAYER                            MATCHES        RUNS      HUNDREDS
Sachin Tendulkar          164                     6976        20
Ricky Ponting                 153                    5406        13
Virat Kohli                        107                   5358        21
Jacques Kallis                142                  5178         6
Kumar Sangakkara        142                  4724         4
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will also be involved in a battle for supremacy against Australia in an intriguing sub-plot. Both the batters have r8 hundreds each against Australia in ODI cricket and need one more to equal Sachin Tendulkar’s record for most hundreds in India vs Australia ODIs.

Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will also be involved in a battle for supremacy against Australia in an intriguing sub-plot. Both the batters have r8 hundreds each against Australia in ODI cricket and need one more to equal Sachin Tendulkar’s record for most hundreds in India vs Australia ODIs.

Rohit Sharma, who hit a match-winning century in the Nagpur Test, will be unavailable for the first ODI in Mumbai due to personal commitments. In his absence, Hardik Pandya will lead the side in the series opener.

MOST CENTURIES IN IND v AUS ODIs

PLAYER                            MATCHES        RUNS       CENTURIES
Sachin Tendulkar            71                     3077         9
Rohit Sharma                   43                    2208          8
Virat Kohli                        40                     2083          8
Ricky Ponting                  59                    2164          6
Steve Smith                    21                     1123          5
All eyes will also be on Steve Smith, who has a terrific record against India, as he prepares to lead Australia in the absence of Pat Cummins.