"Words fall short to express how good a player he has been" - Teammate pays tribute to Virat Kohli ahead of his 300th ODI

Team India keeper-batter KL Rahul paid tribute to Virat Kohli ahead of the latter's landmark 300th ODI. The Karnataka cricketer stated it's difficult to express in words how good Kohli has been and added that he was extremely pleased to see the former India captain get a hundred in the last game.

Kohli will play his 300th one-day international when the Men in Blue take on New Zealand in their last group match of the 2025 Champions Trophy in Dubai on Sunday, March 2. Only six other batters from India have achieved the feat before him - Sachin Tendulkar (463), MS Dhoni (350), Rahul Dravid (344), Mohammad Azharuddin (334), Sourav Ganguly (311) and Yuvraj Singh (304).

In 299 ODIs, Kohli has amassed 14,085 runs at an average of 58.20 and a strike rate of 93.41, with a record 51 hundreds and 73 half-centuries to his name. Speaking at a press conference ahead of the India vs New Zealand 2025 Champions Trophy match, Rahul hailed Kohli and said (via Hindustan Times):

“That's (300) a lot of ODI matches. Words fall short to express how good a player he has been and what a great servant of Indian cricket he has been. Really happy to see that he got a hundred in the last game as well, and (he is) batting really well. For a player of his caliber, it was about time that he scored that big and a match-winning century."

The 32-year-old went on to add that India's batting looks with great shape with Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer also among the runs. Speaking specifically about Rohit and Kohli, he hoped that they can score many more tons.

“It's a great place for us as a team to be in where Rohit, Shubman, and Virat's been in good form. Shreyas has played his part as well. Against England, he was striking the ball really well," Rahul stated.

“Virat, obviously, is very important part of the team. We are always looking up to Virat and Rohit to step up and score in big games, that's what they have been able to do for so many years. Hopefully, there are many more hundreds and many more games left in them,” the keeper-batter added.

While Kohli has 51 ODI tons to his name, Rohit has notched up 32 hundreds in the format in 270 matches. The Indian captain is the only batter with three double hundreds to his name in one-day internationals.

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"That's a massive achievement" - Michael Bracewell ahead of Virat Kohli's 300th ODI

New Zealand all-rounder Michael Bracewell praised Kohli ahead of his 300th one-dayer, describing it as a massive achievement. Speaking at a press conference ahead of the India vs New Zealand 2025 Champions Trophy match in Dubai, Bracewell said (as quoted by Cricbuzz):

"That's a massive, massive achievement. 300 games across a career is very impressive. And then 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 it firsthand at RCB, how he sort of prepared for each match. And it's very impressive. And he's one of a number of class players in the Indian line-up," the 34-year-old went on to add.

When India and New Zealand met in the semifinals of the 2023 World Cup in Mumbai, Kohli notched up his 50th ODI ton to guide the Men in Blue into the final of the ICC event.