Mumbai: Just the other day, many were baying for Virat Kohli’s blood after he registered back-to-back ducks for the first time in his long career. Some were also not convinced about Rohit Sharma, another ageing superstar, despite his laboured half-century in the second ODI at Adelaide.
After India lost the first two games against Australia, and with it the series, netizens wondered whether these two veterans – who have retired from Tests and T20Is — should continue playing in ODIs with the World Cup two years away.
On Saturday, at the sunny Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), Rohit and Kohli answered their critics by letting their bats do the talking.
Such is the irony of life, and sport, that fans were left asking when they will get to see Ro-Ko in India colours next, after Rohit’s unbeaten 121 and Virat’s 74* guided India to a 9-wicket romp in the third and final ODI. It was an inconsequential game, as Australia won the series 2-1, but that hardly mattered to Indian fans. Nearly 30,000 – big majority of today’s crowd – at the SCG and millions watching on television can’t wait for Ro-Ko to play for Team India again.
Well, they have to wait for more than a month.
India next play three T20Is against Australia, and then two Test matches at home against South Africa. The short Test series will be followed by three home ODIs against the Proteas. So Rohit and Virat will don the blue shirts on November 30 (Ranchi), December 3 (Raipur) and December 6 (Visakhapatnam).
On Saturday, Rohit and Virat set numerous milestones to add to their glittering careers.
Here are the milestones/records that Rohit & Virat reached in the Sydney ODI:
* For starters, it was Ro-Ko’s 12th 150-plus partnership in ODIs – the joint-most by any pair, alongside Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly.
* It was their 19th century stand, the third-most by any pair – after Tendulkar-Ganguly (26) and Kumar Sangakkara-Tilakaratne Dilshan (20).
* Ro-Ko have amassed 1,454 partnership runs between them against Australia. Only one pair has more partnership runs against an opponent – 1,484 by Desmond Haynes and Richie Richardson against Pakistan.
* Ro-Ko took their overall partnership runs tally to 5,483 to be lodged in third place – behind Tendulkar-Ganguly (8,227) and Sangakkara-Jayawardene (5,992)
* Rohit became the second-oldest ODI centurion at 38 years & 178 days. The record is held by Tendulkar (38 years & 327 days)
* Rohit also became oldest recipient of a Player of the Series award in ODIs. Previous oldest was MS Dhoni (37 years & 194 days)
* Virat took his ODI tally to 14,255 runs to become second-highest scorer, surpassing Sangakkara’s total of 14,234. Only Tendulkar is ahead, at 18,426
* Virat Kohli became the first batter to score 6,000-plus runs in successful run chases in ODIs. Even Tendulkar (5,490) is behind him in this stat
* Virat also surpassed Tendulkar to become the batter with most 50-plus scores in run chases in ODIs
* Rohit, with 9 hundreds, rose to joint-second on the list (with Virat and Tendulkar) of most tons versus a single opposition in ODIs. Virat holds the record with 10 ODI centuries against Sri Lanka.
* Rohit hit his 50th international century across formats (12 in Tests, 33 in ODIs, 5 in T20Is)
