IND v AUS 2020: Virat Kohli becomes the 9th Indian player to play 250 ODI games

India captain Virat Kohli, on Sunday, became the ninth Indian player to play 250 one-day matches.

In 249 previous ODIs, Virat Kohli has scored 11888 runs at a spectacular average of 59.14 and a strike rate of 93.26. He has 43 hundreds to his name to go along with 58 fifties. Against Australia, Virat Kohli has tallied 1931 runs at an average of 53.63, scoring eight hundreds.

India are facing Australia in Sydney in the second game of a three-match ODI series. It is a must-win game for the visitors, who lost the opening one-dayer at the same ground by 66 runs on Friday.

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Virat Kohli joins an elite list

By featuring in his 250th ODI, Virat Kohli joined an elite list of Indian players to have achieved the feat.

Virat Kohli is the ninth Indian player to reach the landmark. Sachin Tendulkar (463), MS Dhoni (350), Rahul Dravid (344), Mohammad Azharuddin (334), Sourav Ganguly (311), Yuvraj Singh (304), Anil Kumble (271) and Virender Sehwag (251) are the others.

Virat Kohli becomes the ninth Indian to reach the milestone of 250 ODIs 👏 https://t.co/vBf4WozKkL #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/sy956rrRjx

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) November 29, 2020

Sachin Tendulkar has not only played the most ODI matches but has also scored the most runs by any player - 18426.

Indian captain Virat Kohli is also on the verge of another record heading into the second ODI in Sydney. If the captain manages to score 112 more runs in the ongoing series, he'll join Sachin Tendulkar as the only Indian players to have scored over 12,000 runs in ODI cricket.

Among non-Indian players, Kumar Sangakkara (14,234), Ricky Ponting (13,704), Sanath Jayasuriya (13,430) and Mahela Jayawardene (12,650) have scored over 12,000 runs in one-day cricket.

However, Virat Kohli will have his task cut out in Sydney on Sunday, as the visitors need to chase down a mammoth 390-run target to level the series.

After losing the toss, the Indian bowlers once against struggled against the Aussie opening pair of David Warner and skipper Aaron Finch. The openers added 142 runs for the first wicket before Mohammed Shami sent back Finch (60).

It marked the fifth consecutive occasion in ODIs that India allowed both opposition openers to score fifties. The game also saw the Finch-Warner pair equal Virender Sehwag-Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 12 hundred-run stands while opening in ODIs.

Shreyas Iyer produced a direct hit to deny Warner (83) a hundred. However, Steve Smith continued to torment the Indian bowlers with another century (again off 62 balls like he did in the first ODI) in the company of Marnus Labuschagne.

Another day, another 💯 for Steven Smith 🙌Back-to-back centuries now against India, this one again in 62 balls 🔥#AUSvIND

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) November 29, 2020

Marnus Labuschagne and Glenn Maxwell then produced a final flourish for Australia, who put the hapless Indian bowlers to the sword, racking up 14 more runs than they managed to score in the first ODI in Sydney.