Team India were handed a shock defeat by England in the first of the five-match Test series in Hyderabad. The hosts lost the game by 28 runs despite gaining a massive 190-run lead in the first innings. Moreover, they are now without Virat Kohli, Mohammed Shami, KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja in the second Test with the latter two getting injured during the series opener.
The onus will be on skipper Rohit Sharma in the game to step up and lead from the front even as he chases multiple personal milestones. The 37-year-old has been part of 295 wins for India in his international career and if the home team manages to level the series in Vizag, then he will go past MS Dhoni in this aspect. The former India skipper was also part of 295 wins for his country at the highest level and Rohit has a chance to trump him. Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar are on level terms when it comes to this facet of the game having witnessed 307 wins of Indian team.
Part of most wins for India in international cricket
| Player |
Wins |
| Sachin Tendulkar |
307 |
| Virat Kohli |
307* |
| MS Dhoni |
295 |
| Rohit Sharma |
295 |
| Yuvraj Singh |
227 |
Another milestone Rohit Sharma is chasing is a very special one as he is only 200 runs away from completing 4000 runs in Test cricket. He has so far mustered 3800 runs in 94 innings at an average of 45.23 with 10 centuries and 16 half-centuries to his name.
In the process, Rohit can also go beyond Ravi Shastri and Murali Vijay in the list of most runs scored in the longest format for the country. Shastri amassed 3830 runs in 121 Test innings while Vijay amassed 3982 runs in just 105 innings with 12 tons to his name in the format. He will become only the 17th player from India to breach the 4000-run mark in red-ball cricket and if Rohit reaches the milestone in Vizag, one can be sure that India will level the series in the second Test.
