Virat Kohli's much anticipated return to international cricket may not have been a desirable one but the talisman ensured he ended the Australia tour, possibly his last as an active India cricketer, on a high.
After being dismissed for consecutive ducks, Kohli once again proved why he still remains the best in the business when it comes to chasing total. Only this time he was joined by another premier batter Rohit Sharma at the other end, who shouldered the responsibility equally well.
The team's senior most pair added an unbeaten 168 off 169 balls to power India to a nine-wicket victory in the third and final ODI at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). The series, however, ended with a 1-2 scoreline in favour of the hosts.
While Rohit slammed his 33rd ODI ton, Kohli scored 74* off 81 balls, featuring seven boundaries. The knock also saw him move past Sri Lanka great Kumar Sangakkara in list featuring batters with most runs in ODIs. Kohli now stands second in the list, with his latest tally reading 14,255 runs from 293 ODIs. He now is only behind 'Master Blaster' Sachin Tendulkar, who has 18,426 runs from 452 innings.
List of batters with most runs in ODIs
18426 - Sachin Tendulkar (452 innings) 14235 - Virat Kohli (293) * 14234 - Kumar Sangakkara (380) 13704 - Ricky Ponting (365) 13430 - Sanath Jayasuriya (433)
Kohli already holds the record of most number of tons in the format. He has 51 ODI centuries under his name, two more than second placed Tendulkar, who is also his idol.
Meanwhile, reflecting on the consecutive ducks, which was the first time in his illustrious ODI career, Kohli speaking to Ravi Shastri and Adam Gilchrist noted: "Good to be out of the pond. You might've played international cricket for a long time, but the game shows you ways even at this stage it's so challenging when things aren't going your way. Almost 37 (years old) in the next few days, but chasing always brings the best out of me."
When asked about his match-winning partnership, Kohli added: "I think from early on, we've understood the situation well, that's what we've always done well (as a pair), we're probably the most experienced pair now, but back in the day when we were young - we knew we could take the game away from them with big partnerships. I think it all started in 2013 (the home series against Australia), if we put up a big partnership, play around 20 overs, we know we'll go a long way in helping the team win and even the opposition realise it."
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