India star batter Virat Kohli is on the cusp of achieving a rare feat in international cricket. The 36-year-old currently has 99 fifty-plus scores under his name across all the three formats. If he does go on to score a half-century in the upcoming three-match ODI series against South Africa, then he will become just the fourth player in history to amass 100 fifty-plus scores in international cricket after legends Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting and Jacques Kallis.
Players with the most 50+ scores in international cricket -
1. Sachin Tendulkar (India) - 112 scores
2. Ricky Ponting (Australia) - 106 scores
3. Jacques Kallis (South Africa) - 104 scores
4. Virat Kohli (India) - 99 scores
Kohli's performance against Australia
Kohli's previous ODI assignment turned out to be average as after struggling in the first two games and getting dismissed for ducks in both the matches, the 37-year-old went on to play a fine knock of 74* to guide India to victory in the third and final ODI alongside Rohit Sharma. The duo formed an unbeaten 168-run stand, ensuring that the Men in Blue won comfortably by 9 wickets.
KL Rahul to lead in Gill's absence
Meanwhile, with Shubman Gill absent from the South Africa ODIs due to a neck injury, KL Rahul will be the one leading the team in the three-match series that will begin from November 30. The Men in Blue will also be without the services of both Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah for the series, but both of them are expected to be in action in the five-match T20I series against the Proteas that will commence from December 9.
India's squad for ODI series against South Africa: Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, KL Rahul (C) (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh, Dhruv Jurel.
South Africa's squad for India ODIs: Temba Bavuma (C), Ottneil Baartman, Corbin Bosch, Matthew Breetzke, Dewald Brevis, Nandre Burger, Quinton de Kock, Tony de Zorzi, Rubin Hermann, Keshav Maharaj, Marco Jansen, Aiden Markram, Lungi Ngidi, Ryan Rickelton, Prenelan Subrayen.