Colombo: Bringing an end to much speculation, Virat Kohli finally reached Colombo and united with the national cricket team on Monday for the three-match ODI series. Kohli was on a break after India’s triumphant run at the T20 World Cup. Expectations would be high when he walks out to bat in the opening ODI. A clip has surfaced on social space which shows Kohli wearing a white t-shirt and looking smart. Kohli, who has retired from T20Is, would be featuring in the upcoming 2025 Champions Trophy.
Virat Kohli has landed in Colombo for the ODI series against Sri Lanka#ViratKohli pic.twitter.com/AJoBCbyoAv
— ᗩjÃί (@annu897439) July 29, 2024
The three-match ODI series starts in Colombo on August 2 and all games will be played at the R Premadasa International Cricket Stadium. The series concludes on August 7, after the second ODI on August 4.
ODI squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill (vc), Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Riyan Parag, Axar Patel, Khaleel Ahmed, Harshit Rana.
Meanwhile, Suryakumar Yadav equalled a T20I feat which earlier belonged to former India captain and batter Virat Kohli in T20I cricket. Suryakumar Yadav and Kohli are the only two cricketers in world cricket with 16 ‘Player of the match (POTM)’ awards in T20I cricket.
While ‘SKY’ achieved this feat in only 69 matches while winning the award in the first T20I on Saturday, Kohli achieved this feat in 125 matches – including the T20 World Cup 2024 final which incidentally was also his final game in this format.