Indian cricket team became the first team to play 1000 ODI matches on Sunday (February 6), as they take on West Indies in the 1st ODI in Ahmedabad. After India, Australia are at second spot with 958 ODIs, and Pakistan at third with 936 ODI appearances.
On the special occasion, India captain Rohit Sharma, star batter Virat Kohli, and head coach Rahul Dravid shared a special message. Rohit said it's an honour for him to lead the side in India's 1000th ODI match.
“Tomorrow is going to be a historic day for Indian cricket as we go on to play the 1000th ODI. I would like to congratulate all players who took part in the long journey,” he said in a video posted by BCCI.
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“It's a great honour to captain in the game, a privilege to lead the boys. Our journey has been fantastic. So many players have come and represented the country, put their best foot forward. It will be nothing different for us, we will keep raising the bar for Indian cricket.”
Kohli is proud of being part of so many games for India and he said that the landmark of 1000 ODIs is a big number. “It has gone from strength to strength. We had a couple of transitions that went very well which shows you the bench strength and kind of talent we had in this country.
"I'm proud of having had such a long career with the Indian cricket team and been part of so many games which have eventually brought us to the landmark of 1000 ODIs. It's a big number and a testimony to how many matches played over the year,” said the former India captain.
Dravid, who played for India for almost 16 years and is now coaching the side, said that India had not played a lot of ODIs for the first 10-12 years but the World Cup win in 1983 changed a lot of things for them.
“It's been an incredible journey for India from 1974 when we played our first one-day game. (We) didn't play a lot of one-day games in our history over the first 10-12 years but the 1983 World Cup changed that a lot to an extent,” said Dravid.
“It was an eye-opener for everyone just on the importance of one-day cricket. Hosting the 2 World Cups in 1987 and 19996 changed a lot of things. One-day cricket became very popular with the fans in the 90s and we started to play a lot of ODIs since which reflects on our success in the World Cups of 1983 and 2011. The number of games that India play has increased manifold. The game has grown in this country and it has become one of the top format," he said.
