CWC 2019: Records await Team India in England

Virat Kohli’s Team India will kick start their campaign in the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup against South Africa on June 5 at Southampton. The Men in Blue, among other strong contenders, are considered as favourites to lift the prestigious trophy.

With the round-robin format making a comeback after last seen at the 1992 World Cup, all 10 teams will be playing against each other in the league stage. The top 4 sides will straightaway qualify for the semi-finals, from where two teams will head to Lord’s on July 14 for the ultimate clash.

In the pre-tournament presser in Mumbai, captain Kohli admitted that this will be India’s toughest World Cup. While the entire team will be focused on winning the World Cup, some individual records will be up for grabs as well. India will be keen to latch on to those on their way.

Kuldeep, Bumrah eye Shami’s record

Left-arm chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav (87 wickets) and fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah (85 wickets) have played 44 and 49 ODIs respectively. Both bowlers will have the golden opportunity to surpass their own teammate, Mohammed Shami’s record of 100 wickets in 56 ODIs. Shami is the fastest Indian to achieve this feat in one-day cricket. If Kuldeep can pick 13 wickets in the next 7 matches, he will also become the second fastest OD bowler to 100 wickets after Rashid Khan (44 matches).

MS Dhoni to follow Sachin Tendulkar

If wicketkeeper-batsman MS Dhoni plays a minimum of 9 matches in the World Cup, he will become only the second Indian after Tendulkar and the 10th batsman in the world to play 350 ODI matches. The Master Blaster has played the most number of ODIs in the world – 468.

Jadeja three strikes away

Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja has picked up 397 wickets in his international career so far. If included in India’s playing XI at the World Cup, he will be just 3 wickets away from becoming the 7th Indian bowler to pick 400 international wickets.

A platter for King Kohli 

India’s campaign in England will be majorly riding on the back of one man’s form – Virat Kohli. Apart from carrying the hopes of a billion nation, Kohli, the batsman will also be itching to get into his usual beast mode. Here are a few records he is most likely to break and make:

• Rainin’ boundaries

Kohli has scored a total of 1973 fours across all formats for India. He is 27 fours away from becoming the fifth Indian to score 2000 fours in international cricket. His record for sixes isn’t too bad either. By scoring 11 more sixes, he’ll become the seventh Indian to score 200 international sixes.

• Fastest to 11,000 ODI runs

Run machine Virat Kohli has raced away to 10,843 runs in 219 ODI innings for India. He’s just 157 runs shy of becoming the fastest batsman in the world to score 11,000 ODI runs. And, he’s got 56 ODI innings to achieve it! We think it’d be sooner, though.

• Fastest to 20,000 international runs

19,719 international runs in 412 innings – Kohli has taken world cricket by storm with his explosive batting and the pace at which he scores those runs. If he scores 281 more runs in 70 innings or less, he will be the fastest to 20,000 runs across formats in international cricket. The previous best is that of South African batsman and his fellow RCB compatriot, AB de Villiers (483 innings).

Fireworks for Shikhar-Rohit

The only left-handed batsman in India’s top order, Shikhar Dhawan has scored 8980 international runs as an opener. He is 20 short of reaching the 9000-run mark and becoming only the fifth Indian batsman to do so. His partner in crime, Rohit Sharma needs 26 more runs to become the seventh Indian to score 8000 international runs as an opening batsman. It was in 2013 that Rohit found a new lease of life in India’s top order, first against England in the home series and then in the Champions Trophy alongside Dhawan.

One Ro’hit’ away

As much as he’s known for his six-hitting abilities, Rohit Sharma also has a penchant for hitting beautiful groundstrokes with ‘lazy elegance’. The right-hander is just one four away from becoming the 8th Indian to score 700 fours. Further, by scoring 74 more runs, he will also become the 9th Indian to get to 12,000 international runs.