After a successful series with the struggling Sri Lankan side, the Indian cricket team was subjected to harsh reality when they played Australia a couple of days in Mumbai. The Aussies completely dominated the Indians in all three departments at the Wankhede Stadium and registered a comfortable win by 10 wickets. Though there are many reasons behind India’s poor performance, Virat Kohli’s failure to score runs is a major one.
In order to accommodate both KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan in the side, Virat Kohli dropped himself down to number four. But that move backfired, as, by the time the Indian skipper came into the crease, more than half of the overs were done and dusted. Normally an anchor, Kohli needed to slog in the last ODI and was dismissed by Adam Zampa for just sixteen runs.
Fans are hopeful that Kohli will make a comeback in the second ODI at Rajkot, and provided he does so, he might break quite a few records. The most prominent of that will be the number of centuries in international cricket as a captain. As of now, both Kohli and former Australian legend Ricky Ponting are tied with 41 international tons while leading the side. A century at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium will put the Indian skipper ahead of Ponting.
The Century will also help him equal Sachin Tendulkar, in terms of centuries scored by an Indian against the Aussies in ODIs. The master blaster currently holds the pole position with nine centuries against the Kangaroos. Another record which Kohli will have his eyes on his the number of tons scored in India. Tendulkar holds the pole position here as well with 20, but Kohli is just one short of it.
Kohli likely to return to number three
Though Kohli is on the verge of breaking and equaling numerous records, all of that will happen if he can get a big score. To do that, the Indian skipper might have to return to his number three slot, and he has said he will rethink that. “Because of the way KL Rahul has been batting, we have tried to fit him in the batting line-up. Having said that, I don’t think it’s quite gone our way whenever I’ve batted number four, so we’ll probably have to rethink about that one,” the Indian skipper said Star Sports after the game.
