Bhubaneswar: Virat Kohli and records seem to be synonymous. Whenever, Virat Kohli takes the field, he more or less creates a milestone. When Kohli takes the field Wednesday against the West Indies at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, he will be achieving another new milestone. He will become the fifth Indian cricketer to have played 100 or more ODIs on home soil. He will join an elite group headed by Sachin Tendulkar with the other members being MS Dhoni, Mohammed Azharuddin and Yuvraj Singh.
Kohli has so far played 99 matches on home soil. He has scored 5,002 runs in the home games with 19 centuries and 25 half centuries. Kohli has a stupendous average of over 59 in the games he has played in India.
It should be stated here that Tendulkar has played the maximum number of matches on home soil. He has played 164 matches followed by Dhoni (127), Azhar (113) and Yuvraj (108). It can easily be said that Kohli will soon go past the immediate three ahead of him keeping in mind the number of ODIs India are scheduled to play in the next couple of years. Who knows Kohli may even go past Tendulkar in the number of games played on home soil should he remain fit.
India go into Wednesday’s game after a thumping six-wicket win in the first match. Kohli will certainly want to make his 100th home match memorable with a good score. He has not hit a hundred now in more than two years. Kohli would certainly want to put that behind him. If India win the game, the hosts would wrap up the three-game series. Kohli would certainly like to make a sizeable contribution in that triumph.
