Virat Kohli Surpasses Sourav Ganguly, Only Behind Sachin Tendulkar In Elite List

India skipper Virat Kohli was in his elements during the second ODI against Australia in Nagpur. He scored his 40th ODI ton, scoring 116 to held India win the game and register their 500th ODI win. Batting first India rode on Kohli’s ton to post 116 to score 250 before bowling out the visitors for 242 to register a thrilling 8-run win.

Kohli, meanwhile, broke a plethora of records with his latest ton. He became only the second man after Sachin Tendulkar to score 40 hundreds in ODIs. Kohli now needs 10 more tons to break Tendulkar’s record and become the leading centurion in ODIs.

Kohli also drew level with Tendulkar with his fourth hundred against Australia in India. This was also Kohli’s second ODI ton against Australia this year after his Adelaide masterclass. Kohli has now scored seven tons against Australia in ODIs and is only behind Tendulkar (9) in terms of most tons in India-Australia ODIs.

Talking about the game, India had a poor start after being asked to bat first. Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma departed with just 38 runs on the board. They soon found themselves 3 down for 75 after Ambati Rayudu failed to get going too.  An 81-run stand between Kohli and Vijay Shankar then revived the innings. The duo looked set to bat India to a position of strength before Adam Zampa broke the stand by running Shankar out. The allrounder scored 46 off 41 balls. India then suffered two big setbacks in quick succession.

Last game’s heroes Kedar Jadhav and MS Dhoni departed on successive deliveries as the hosts found themselves reeling on 171 for 6 from 156 for 3. However, Kohli remained firm from his end and went on to score a fine century to guide India to a competitive total.

In reply, Australia started well. Their openers Aaron Finch and Usman Khawaja added 83 runs before both of them departed on the same score. Afterwards, Glenn Maxwell and Shaun Marsh too failed to get going. Peter Handscomb and Marcus Stoinis then tried to resurrect the innings before the former was run out for 48.  Stoinis held firm from one end and went on to compile a fine fifty but Australia eventually lost the game by 8 runs.

Kohli deservedly walked away with the Man of the Match award for his stupendous knock. And in the process he surpassed former India skipper Sourav Ganguly in the list of of Indian players with most Man of the Match awards in ODIs. Kohli now has 32 Man of the Match awards in ODIs for India as he surpassed Ganguly’s tally of 31. Legendary Sachin Tendulkar remains on top of the list with a staggering 62 Man of the Match awards in ODIs.

Here’s the list of Indian players with most Man of the Match awards in ODIs:

62 Sachin Tendulkar (463 ODIs)
32 Virat Kohli (224)
31 Sourav Ganguly (308)
27 Yuvraj Singh (301)
23 Virender Sehwag (241)
20 MS Dhoni (337)

Kohli, meanwhile, will be looking to add to his tally in the remaining three games of the series. India will take on Australia in the third ODI on Friday (March 8) in Ranchi.