Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli wrote a new chapter in Indian cricket, after the duo played their 392nd game together in 50-over format on Sunday during the first ODI against South Africa in Ranchi. Having already retired in Tests and T20Is, both Rohit and Virat now only play for India in ODIs.
The first ODI against South Africa marks the 392nd ODI for Rohit and Kohli together, thus going past Tendulkar and Dravid, who played 391 games together. Dravid and Ganguly are third in the list with 369 games.
Out of 392 matches, Rohit and Kohli played 60 Tests together, 226 ODIs and 106 T20Is. Thee duo retired from T20Is last year and called time on their Test career earlier this year.
The overall list of headed by Sri Lankan legends Mahela Jayawardena and Kumar Sangakkara, who played in 550 international matches together, representing the national side. Kohli‘s ODI debut came in 2008, a year later than Rohit’s in 2007. The duo won their first-ever ICC trophy together in 2024, beating South Africa in the T20 World Cup final.
Meanwhile, Rohit surpassed former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi for most sixes in ODIs. The former Indian captain started the game with three shy of the top spot. The Indian opener first equalled Afridi at 351 sixes with two back-to-back maximums off Prenelan Subrayen.
He finally reached the milestone on the fourth ball in the 20th over bowled by Marco Jansen. Former West Indies batter Chris Gayle is third on the list with 331 sixes in ODIs.
Earlier, India were sent to bat first after South Africa won the toss and opted to bowl first. KL Rahul is leading the side in the absence of Shubman Gill, who is recovering from neck injury.
India vs South Africa 1st ODI playing XIs
South Africa: Ryan Rickelton, Quinton de Kock(w), Aiden Markram(c), Matthew Breetzke, Tony de Zorzi, Dewald Brevis, Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Prenelan Subrayen, Nandre Burger, Ottneil Baartman
India: Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Washington Sundar, KL Rahul(w/c), Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna
