Virat Kohli's start to the three-match series against New Zealand got off to the worst possible beginning after he bagged a nine-ball duck in the first innings of the first Test in Bengaluru on Thursday, October 17.
Though Virat will rue the opportunity, he added yet another feather to his illustrious cap as soon as he was named in India's playing XI.
Virat moved past MS Dhoni to become the second most-capped player for India in international cricket. Virat has now made 536 appearances for India across formats and is only behind Sachin Tendulkar on the all-time list.
The Master Blaster represented India across all three formats and played 664 games in total - the most by an Indian in international cricket. While Virat is still going strong and has the appetite to do well for India at the highest level, it seems unlikely that he will be able to surpass Sachin and take the top spot.
Most capped player for India
| S. No. |
Player |
Matches |
| 1. |
Sachin Tendulkar |
664 |
| 2. |
Virat Kohli |
536 |
| 3. |
MS Dhoni |
535 |
| 4. |
Rahul Dravid |
504 |
| 5. |
Rohit Sharma |
486 |
| 6. |
Mohammed Azharuddin |
433 |
| 7. |
Sourav Ganguly |
421 |
| 8. |
Anil Kumble |
401 |
| 9. |
Yuvraj Singh |
399 |
| 10. |
Harbhajan Singh |
365 |
Other than Virat, only Rohit Sharma is the other active player who finds a place among the top ten on the list. Rohit has represented India in 486 matches across all three formats (Tests + ODIs + T20Is).
Notably, both Rohit and Virat had an unforgettable outing in the first innings in Bengaluru. The India captain managed to score just two runs and was cleaned up by seamer Tim Southee.
New Zealand (Playing XI):
Tom Latham (c), Devon Conway, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell (wk), Glenn Phillips, Matt Henry, Tim Southee, Ajaz Patel, William ORourke
India (Playing XI):
Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
