The D-Day is here! India vs Australia, in an ICC knockout. It feels quite a deja vu given how frequently the two teams are meeting in ICC events, especially in the knockouts. Yes, Australia are depleted, they don't have half of their first-choice team but that doesn't take away the big-game mindset from them. They have an inexperienced bowling attack but the batting unit is most of the same from the ODI World Cup 2023 and given how they chased down 352 against England, one that can put the opposition under pressure.
On sluggish Dubai wickets, Indian bowlers have been sensational, especially the spin trio or the quartet that played against New Zealand. The surface will continue to assist the slower bowlers and hence, the batting will be key for India to overcome the Australian challenge and hence, the Men in Blue will hope that their senior statesmen Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma can put their hand up.
Kohli already has had a century in his name in the Pakistan game and Rohit has looked good, but hasn't been able to kick on after getting starts in all three matches. Both Kohli and Rohit are chasing huge milestones respectively and competing with each other in a couple of them as India look to reach another ICC final.
Kohli currently has 662 runs to his name in the Champions Trophy. The Indian batting stalwart needs 40 runs to surpass Shikhar Dhawan (701) to become India's leading run-getter in the tournament. Rohit Sharma is a little behind on that list with 557 runs but can leapfrog the likes of Ricky Ponting (593) and Rahul Dravid (627). Kohli also needs 43 runs to become only the second batter after Sachin Tendulkar to score 2,500 runs in ICC ODI events.
Rohit has 2,379 runs to his name against Australia in ODIs and is second on the list of leading run-getters against the six-time world champions in the format. Kohli is just behind him at No 3 with 2,367 runs and both of them will be competing if they do well on Tuesday.
Rohit currently has 64 sixes to his name in ICC ODI events (Champions Trophy and World Cup), the joint-highest with Chris Gayle and just needs one to break the world record. Among most boundaries in ICC white-ball events (Champions Trophy, T20 World Cup and World Cup), Rohit is currently at the top with 343 and needs just seven to become the first man to get to the landmark of 350. Kohli is just behind in second place with 333 fours.
Among sixes, Rohit is in second place for ICC white-ball events with 114 maximums to his name and is 13 behind Gayle's 127.