Virat Kohli Becomes Third Indian To Captain In 200 International Matches

Virat Kohli continues to break records in his stellar career as he became only the third Indian to lead the country in 200 international matches. He achieved this feat on Sunday when he led the side against England in Pune in the third and final match of the series.

Former captains MS Dhoni and Mohammad Azharuddin are ahead of the Delhi-born with 332 and 271 matches respectively as captain. Overall, Virat Kohli is at the 8th position for most matches as a captain – Dhoni leads the chart ahead of the likes of Ricky Ponting and Stephen Fleming.

Virat Kohli has captained India in 60 Tests, 45 T20Is, and 95 ODI including the third ODI against England in Pune. He had led India to its first-ever Test series victory in Australia a couple of years ago.

India stutter after a century opening stand in the 3rd ODI

Speaking of the third and the series-deciding game in Pune, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan put on their 17th-century opening stand – surpassing Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden – and were more attacking in their approach compared to the previous two ODIs.

However, India lost the openers and then skipper Virat Kohli and KL Rahul in quick succession. Despite the fall of wickets, Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya continued to bat with alacrity – the loss in the 2nd ODI forced them to aim for the big score.

Pant (78 off 62) and Hardik (64 off 44) were dismissed before the 40th over in a bid to push the total over 350. Cameos from Shardul Thakur and Krunal Pandya dragged India to 329 – lower than their total in the second ODI which was chased down comfortably by England.

Each of the visiting bowlers picked at least a solitary wicket. Mark Wood, who missed the 2nd ODI, was the pick of the bowlers with 3 scalps while two for Adil Rashid, and 1 each for Sam Curran, Reece Topley, Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali, and Liam Livingstone.

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