Team India skipper Virat Kohli is just 19 runs away from overtaking Pakistan great Javed Miandad as the highest run-scorer against West Indies in ODI cricket. Miandad played his last ODI against the Windies in 1993 and so Kohli will be breaking a 26-year-old record if he manages to hit 19 runs in the upcoming second ODI in Port of Spain. Miandad took 64 innings to score 1930 runs against the West Indies and if Kohli manages to surpass him in the second ODI, he will have taken just 34 innings to do so. The Indian captain did not get to bat in the first ODI of the series as West Indies had batted first and only 13 overs could be bowled before the rain in Providence ensured that the match was washed out.
In the T20I series that preceded the ODIs, Kohli was India’s highest scorer with 106 runs under his belt. He was the second-highest run-scorer in the series overall behind Kieron Pollard who scored 115 runs. India won the series 3-0.
“Williamson is very good, Smith has reignited his career, but to see someone like Virat perform so regularly in all three formats, he does deserve that tag.”https://t.co/EGkVU0o70w
— ICC (@ICC) August 9, 2019
After rain playing spoilsport in the first ODI of the three-game series in Guyana, India and West Indies have moved to the Queen’s Park Oval for the second game and both teams will be looking to start on the attack after a washed-out opening game. Interestingly, Chris Gayle has been ignored for the Test series, so this game and the last one at the same venue could be the last couple of times that one sees the legend take the field on the international stage.
Most runs by a player in ODIs vs West Indies_Screenshot
The visitor’s batting looks solid at the top with Shikhar Dhawan coming back to join Rohit Sharma and skipper Kohli will once again get to play freely at the no.3 position as he doesn’t need to worry about building the innings as he had to during the showpiece event in England.
The middle-order kind of picks itself as the team didn’t get to bat in the opening game. So while Shreyas Iyer should get another go after having made the XI in the first game, Rishabh Pant definitely will be playing the role of the finisher unless there is a top-order collapse. Kedar Jadhav is also set to get a game over Manish Pandey as was the case in the opening tie.
In the bowling department, Mohammed Shami looked mighty impressive as he gave away just 5 runs in the three overs that he bowled. But with young Khaleel Ahmed taking some stick from Evin Lewis, going from 27 from his three overs, it could be interesting to see if the Indian team management decides to give Navdeep Saini his ODI cap as he was pretty impressive in the T20I series.
