Star India batter Virat Kohli is all set to play his 300th ODI match in his career. With that, he will become the seventh Indian cricketer to play 300 or more matches in the format. Kohli is set to achieve the milestone in India’s Champions Trophy match against New Zealand at Dubai International Stadium on March 2.
Ahead of that, New Zealand cricketer Michael Bracewell congratulated Kohli for the ‘massive achievement’ and noted that it’s even more special to play so many games in just one format. He added that playing against India will be a tough challenge as the Rohit Sharma-led side has quality players in the ranks but they are up for the fight.
“That's a massive, massive achievement. 300 games across a career is very impressive. And then to put that in just one format is amazing. I think it's a testament to the way that he's gone about his career. And it's very impressive. And he's one of a number of class players in the Indian line-up,” Bracewell said in the press conference.
“And yeah, they've all played a lot of cricket now. So as I said, they're going to be a challenging team to come up against. But we're really excited about that challenge. They (India) have obviously got great players across the board, Virat being one of them. He's scored a lot of hundreds in one-day cricket. So he's obviously a player that has done it over a number of years. So, yeah, we're excited to play against India and the challenge that that provides. They've got class players across the board and so do we. So hopefully it's a great match,” he added.
The match between India and New Zealand will decide the group leader. Nevertheless, India will be playing their semi-final match on March 4, while the other semi-final match will be played on March 5 at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.