India captain Virat Kohli is on verge of adding a new feather into his already illustrious cap in the third ODI of the five-match series against Australia at the JSCA International Stadium in Ranchi on Friday.

The ‘Men in Blue’ lead the series 2-0 courtesy of their victories in Vizag and Nagpur respectively and the hosts will now look to take an unassailable series lead in MS Dhoni’s home town.

Kohli — who slammed his 40th ODI ton in the second match — is all set to reach a new milestone as skipper of the Indian team in the 50-over format. If Kohli scores 27 runs in Ranchi, he will become the 12th cricketer ever to score 4000 runs as captain in ODIs.

Also, he will become only the 4th Indian captain ever to reach this landmark after Dhoni (6641), Mohammad Azharuddin (5239) & Sourav Ganguly (5104).

It doesn’t seem like a big ask as since taking over as captain, the swashbuckling right-hander has gone from strength to strength. Kohli’s average as skipper reads 82.77 in ODIs compared to his average of 51.29 as a player.

The visitors also cannot let Kohli cross the 50-run mark in the third ODI as stats suggests that if he manages to do so, the Indian captain will go onto score a century. He has converted each of his last six ODI fifties into centuries at home.

121 vs NZ in Mumbai, 2017

113 vs NZ in Kanpur, 2017

140 vs WIN in Guwahati, 2018

157* vs WIN in Vizag, 2018

107 vs WIN in Pune, 2018

113 vs AUS, Nagpur, 2019

Kohli will be eager to put another masterclass with the blade and fire India to yet another series win at home. Also, a win in Ranchi will be India’s 50th ODI win against the five-time World Champions.

First Published: Mar 07, 2019 14:11 IST