ENG Vs IND, 2018: Virat Kohli Equals Ricky Ponting And Clive Lloyd's Record

Virat Kohli continues to scale new heights both as a player and as well as captain. The 29-year-old has now added yet another feather to his already illustrious cap after he led India to a thumping eight-wicket win over England in the first One-day International in Nottingham.

The game at Trent Bridge was Kohli’s 50th match as a skipper. In doing so, he became the seventh to lead India in 50 ODIs, after Mahendra Singh Dhoni (199), Mohammad Azharuddin (174), Sourav Ganguly (146), Rahul Dravid (79), Kapil Dev (74), and Sachin Tendulkar (73).

And among the lot, Kohli has enjoyed more success than any of his predecessors.

In 50 games, he has led India to an incredible 39 victories. 39 wins after 50 games is the joint-highest along with former Windies captain Clive Lloyd and former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting.

While veteran batsman Ponting lost nine matches in his first 50 ODIs as a captain, Kohli and Lloyd ended up on losing side 10 and 11 times respectively.

The India skipper enjoys a win percentage of 78 in the 50-over format — the highest for a player who led the side for more than 25 matches in ODIs.

India thrash England:

Coming to the game, it was yet another cakewalk for the Men in Blue. Barring the first ten overs of England’s innings, India thoroughly dominated the contest to win the game convincingly and go one nil up in the three-match series. Asked to bat first, England were off to a flier

Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy helped the hosts race away to 71 for no loss in ten overs.

However, the game turned in India’s favour once Kuldeep Yadav came to bowl. On his very second ball, he dismissed Roy to give India the much-needed breakthrough.

In his following over, he sent back Bairstow and Joe Root to derail England’s innings. The chinaman went on to claim the wickets of Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, and David Willey – to finish with figures of six for 25. As a result, England were all out for just 268.

In reply, India romped home without appearing to break a sweat thanks to Rohit Sharma’s unbeaten 137 and a 75-run knock by Virat Kohli.

The second game of the series will get underway on Saturday (June 14) at Lord’s.