Virat Kohli will be playing his 300th ODI when India takes on New Zealand on March 2 in the final group stage game of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. India and New Zealand have both qualified for the semi-finals of the tournament.
Kohli has had a good outing in CT 2025, as he scored his 51st century in ODIs, scoring 100* against Pakistan. This propelled him to the No. 5 spot in the ICC ODI batting rankings and became only the 3rd player to cross 14,000 runs in ODI cricket.
Kohli has now surpassed Ponting on the all-time run list and is now only 149 runs behind second-placed Kumar Sangakkara. However, he remains 4,341 runs behind Sachin Tendulkar, who continues to lead the list.
Kohli will become the seventh Indian cricketer to play 300 ODIs, joining Azharuddin, Tendulkar, MS Dhoni, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, and Yuvraj Singh in the select group.
Kohli, on the other hand, will establish a unique distinction when he plays his 300th ODI match, demonstrating his durability across all formats of the game. Kohli will be the first player to play 300 ODIs while simultaneously playing at least 100 Tests and 100 T20Is.
Meanwhile, ahead of his 300th ODI, Virat Kohli opened up on being a "Delhi da munda" and said it means having a stress-free approach to life.
"I don't know if I'm a prototypical Delhi da munda at all times. Being a Delhi da munda, the line in itself kind of means having a stress-free approach towards things. New experiences in life went to a lot of places, so I wouldn't say that I'm out and out always a Delhi boy. In moments, I am, yes," Kohli said in a video posted by ICC on Instagram.
Further in the video, India's head coach, Gautam Gambhir, who is also from Delhi, stated that the state's spirit is quite straightforward, which indicates that you always aim to win when you get onto the pitch.
"The Delhi spirit is very simple: try and win each time you walk onto the cricket field. That's what has been taught to us when we were growing up in Delhi," Gautam Gambhir said.
Here is the video:
(ANI inputs)
