Virat Kohli in action against West Indies in T20I series earlier this month
After their usual Test domination at home and big talks and discussion surrounding their preparation for World T20 next Australian summer, Team India resume one-day international duties after a gap of almost five months. The last time India played an ODI series was in West Indies, right after their World Cup 2019 exit. In case you forgot the scoreline, India won 2-0 to register their ninth straight bilateral series against West Indies. And who was the wreaker-in-chief of Windies attack? Indian skipper Virat Kohli has been the usual suspect with his back-to-back centuries.
Kohli has long been the torment of West Indies bowling lineup and has been the winner of the Man of the series award in his last two ODI contests against the team.
Since his debut appearance against West Indies in ODIs in 2009, Kohli has emerged as the highest run-getter ever against the side, topping the previous record-holder in half as many matches. Pakistan's Javed Miandad long held the record of most ODI runs against West Indies, scoring 1930 runs in 64 innings, but Kohli now has 2146 runs in just 35 innings.
Moreover, Kohli is presently in an excellent run of form against the Windies side in ODIs having scored 870 runs in the last nine innings at an average of 174 with six centuries and one fifty. His last nine innings read - 111*, 140, 157*, 107, 16, 33*, 72, 120, 114*.
If Kohli can continue with his hundred-hitting trend against West Indies and score his third consecutive ODI century, Kohli will become the first batsman ever to score a hat-trick of ODI tons twice in his career in the format. He had earlier achieved the feat last year against the same opposition with scores of 140, 157* and 107.
Kohli will also look to maintain top spot in 2019 ODI run-getter's list. He presently stands atop with 1288 runs in 22 innings at 64.40. But teammate Rohit Sharma stands 56 runs short of his tally in 2019.
