Virat Kohli on brink of creating history, can go past Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma in second ODI vs New Zealand

India batting great Virat Kohli is on the verge of another special milestone as the Men in Blue prepare to face New Zealand in the second ODI at Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot. The 37-year-old is in outstanding form and looks completely at ease at the crease.

Virat Kohli's performance in 1st ODI vs NZ

He has scored five consecutive fifty-plus scores in ODIs, since the third ODI against Australia at Sydney Cricket Ground in Sydney and continued in the first ODI against New Zealand in Vadodara. In the ODI opener against New Zealand, Kohli played a classy knock of 93 off 91 balls, hitting eight boundaries and a six, while scoring at better than a run a ball. He barely looked troubled throughout the innings.

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Kohli equalled Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma

At present, Kohli is tied with legends like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane, all of whom have managed five straight fifty-plus scores in ODI cricket. If Kohli scores another half-century in Rajkot, he will become the first Indian batter to register six such scores in a row.

Most fifty-plus scores

On the world stage, Pakistan's great Javed Miandad holds the record with nine consecutive fifty-plus ODI scores, followed by Imam-ul-Haq with seven. Several other well-known names, including Kane Williamson, Babar Azam, Shai Hope, Chris Gayle, Ross Taylor and Paul Stirling, have achieved six in succession.

Kohli's recent performances

Kohli’s recent numbers underline just how good his form has been. In his last five ODIs, he has scored 469 runs at an astonishing average of 156.33, including two centuries and three fifties. If his two matches for Delhi in the Vijay Hazare Trophy are also counted, where he piled up 131 and 77, Kohli has made seven fifty-plus scores in a row in List-A cricket. Across these seven innings, he has scored 677 runs at an average of 135.4, with three hundreds and four half-centuries.

Squads

India Squad: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill(c), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, KL Rahul(w), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh, Ayush Badoni, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel
 
New Zealand Squad: Devon Conway, Henry Nicholls, Will Young, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Hay(w), Michael Bracewell(c), Zakary Foulkes, Kristian Clarke, Kyle Jamieson, Adithya Ashok, Jayden Lennox, Nick Kelly, Josh Clarkson, Michael Rae.