Bharath Ramaraj in Dubai
The first two offerings that Virat Kohli faced in the international arena went on the following lines – A tentative forward defence to a delivery from Chaminda Vaas that straightened on the angle and the next one that beat him on the outside edge. Soon, he was dismissed LBW by Nuwan Kulasekara. In a nutshell, the-then Under-19 World Cup winning captain’s international career didn’t start with a bang. It has to be noted, however, that Kohli was batting out of position – at the top of the order.
Just like that, over 6000 days have sailed by since Kohli earned that maiden ODI cap. The tentative-looking batter in Dambulla has gone on to complete a surfeit of milestones in the 50-over format. On March 2, 2025, Kohli is all set to reach one more landmark – his 300th ODI. All those records and milestones are a testament to his pursuit for excellence and continuous improvement, even if it means the upgrades came in fractions and percentages.
Just a few days ago, we just witnessed a peek into Kohli’s mindset. The bedrock of the Indian batting unit practiced at ICC Academy’s nets, around 90 minutes before his teammates arrived. The aim was to chisel out a way against his bugbears – leg-spin and left-arm orthodox spin. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that he subsequently accrued a hundred in the Champions Trophy match against Pakistan.
India comprehensively won that game and also qualified for the last four of the 2025 Champions Trophy. With New Zealand also emerging victorious in their opening two encounters, the group fixture between the Black Caps and India has almost turned into an inconsequential game. Players at that level, though, wouldn’t exactly look at it as a dead-rubber contest. Here, it has to be observed that the winner of this game will end up topping the group and playing Australia.
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Can Kohli in his 300th ODI navigate through the threat of facing Mitchell Santner? Will Rohit Sharma and Mohammed Shami partake in the game despite niggles? What about the inexperience in New Zealand’s pace-bowling unit? Can they be effective in the slog overs? And last, but not the least, what about the mouth-watering match-up between the Indian spinners and New Zealand’s batters? In a few hours’ time, we will have the answers to most of the questions.
Weather and pitch conditions: Two matches have been played at the Dubai Stadium in this Champions Trophy so far. The first of the two tracks offered enough seam movement and was two-paced. In the India-Pakistan encounter, the track seemed to be holding up a touch. In the final analysis, one expects another deck on the slower side.
The dew factor could still play a role, provided there is enough drop in temperature at night. Incidentally, during the India-Bangladesh game, the dew wasn’t a factor. However, the sheen on the wicket during the India-Pakistan encounter somewhere gave an inkling that the dew did make its presence felt.
What they said
“I think that’s obviously a massive, massive achievement. Three hundred games across a career is very impressive, and to put that in just one format is amazing. I think it’s a testament to the way that he’s gone about his career. I saw first-hand at RCB how he sort of prepared for each match, and it’s very impressive.” – Michael Bracewell, New Zealand all-rounder.
Also Read: Virat Kohli and how he changed the blueprint of Indian cricket