Windies vs India: Rohit Sharma, Kuldeep Yadav closing on records

Ever since Rohit Sharma started opening the innings, he is creating records for fun. He makes at least one record his own almost every series. With Virat Kohli and Chris Gayle getting their names in the record books in ongoing Windies vs India series, how could the Mumbai Indians skipper stay behind? The Chinaman Kuldeep Yadav, too, is closing on a record.

Rohit is just 25 runs behind Yuvraj Singh’s tally of 8701 ODI runs. The dashing opening batsman has played 217 ODIs and 210 innings as compared to Yuvraj’s 304 games and 278 innings. However, that is not something to be compared as Yuvi basically batted in the middle order. Sharma has scored at an average of 48.74 and a strike rate of 88.53. Notably, he has 232 sixes to go with his 27 tons.

Sachin leading the pack

Unsurprisingly, batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar leads the pack with 18,426 runs. He is 7,022 runs clear of Virat Kohli despite retiring from the ODIs more than 7 years ago. Kohli went past Sourav Ganguly’s tally of 11,363 in the 2nd ODI of the series. However, Sharma will have to overcome Mohammad Azharuddin (9,378), MS Dhoni (10,773) and Rahul Dravid (10,889) before reaching Kohli.

Kuldeep too eyeing a record

Chinaman is also etching to write his name in the record books. He can become the fastest bowler to claim 100 wickets for the country. The left-arm spinner has taken 96 wickets in 53 ODIs. Currently, fast bowler Mohammed Shami holds the record. He reached the milestone in 56 matches which means Kuldeep has two matches to better the record.

Kuldeep averages 23.86, with 6 wickets for 25 runs being his best bowling figures. He has taken 4 wickets in a game on 4 occasions and 5 wickets just once. He knows West Indies particularly well given it was against the same opponent that he made his ODI debut back in June 2017. Though rain didn’t let him bowl in that game, he picked 3 for 50 in the next game, helping India to a 105-run win.

Team India will be eyeing a series win when they take on Windies in the third ODI on 14th of August. Both Rohit Sharma and Kuldeep Yadav have to play crucial roles in their respective branches.

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~ Written by Mohit Raj