Follow UsVirat Kohli, on March 2 (Sunday), became the seventh Indian to feature in 300 or more One-Day Internationals (ODIs) after Sachin Tendulkar (463), MS Dhoni (347), Rahul Dravid (340), Mohammad Azharuddin (334), Sourav Ganguly (308) and Yuvraj Singh (301).
Kohli got to the landmark after being named in India’s XI for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 game against New Zealand in Dubai. Both India and New Zealand have already qualified for the semi-finals. Overall, King Kohli, as he is fondly called, becomes the 22nd player to play 300 ODIs.
One of the greatest ODI batters of all time, if not the greatest, Kohli has been in stunning form in the 50-over format. The right-hander is averaging 64.56 and has slammed nine fifties and seven tons in this period. Kohli started the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 with a score of 22 but smashed 100* against Pakistan in the last game.
The last time Kohli played an ODI against the Black Caps was during the 2023 ODI World Cup in India. The star Indian batter smashed 117 off 113 in the semi-final of the 50-over event in Mumbai.
“Obviously, he's an incredible player. And to know him a little bit personally myself is awesome. He's an incredibly hard worker, and what he's done for the sport, but also for Indian cricket and also people coming through the game as youngsters now is absolutely fantastic,” said New Zealand’s Glenn Phillips in the pre-match press conference.
Kohli, who made his ODI debut in August 2008, has 14085 runs in the 50-over format at an average of 58.20 and a strike rate of 93.41. No other batter had as many runs as Kohli’s in their 300th ODI mark. Tendulkar had 11544 runs in his first 300 ODIs, 2541 runs fewer than Kohli’s.
Overall, Kohli is 4341 runs behind Tendulkar in the 50-over format. However, he could go past ODI’s second-highest run-getter, Kumar Sangakkara (14234), in the next couple of days. Kohli has 73 fifties and 51 centuries, the most by any batter in ODIs. He has also played 123 Tests and 125 T20Is for India.