India record their second highest ODI total against South Africa during series opener in Ranchi

RANCHI: Team India scored their second-highest ODI total during the series opener in Ranchi on Sunday. Team India made 349/8 in 50 overs after Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and stand-in captain KL Rahul played fantastic knocks.

401/3 is still the highest ODI total India has scored against South Africa. The Men in Blue achieved this feat in Gwalior in 2010 when legendary Sachin Tendulkar scored a memorable double century. Team India won the game by 153 runs after the Proteas were bundled out for 248 runs.

In the first ODI in Ranchi, Kohli smashed a record-breaking 52nd ODI century. Kohli’s brilliant 135 in 120 balls, with 11 fours and seven sixes, led India to a massive score, with Sharma (57 in 51 balls, with five fours and three sixes) and stand-in captain Rahul (60 in 56 balls, with two fours and three sixes) also chipping in useful fifties. Virat, along with Sharma, put up a 136-run stand for the second wicket.

After scoring his 52nd ODI century, Kohli surpassed Tendulkar’s mark of 51 Test centuries to become the only batter with the most centuries in a single format of international cricket.

This is also Kohli’s 83rd century in international cricket. Kohli is 17 centuries behind Tendulkar, who has 100 hundreds in international cricket.

Kohli’s century also became the 7000th ton in men’s international cricket. With this ton, Virat continues his dream run at Ranchi’s JSCA Stadium, scoring 519 runs in six innings at an average of 173, including three centuries and a fifty, and scoring his runs at a strike rate of 110.19.

Rohit, on the other hand, made history by surpassing former Pakistan cricketer Shahid Afridi’s record for most sixes in ODIs. Sharma overtook Afridi’s 351 sixes, who held the record since 2015.

The Indian opener came into the match, needing just three more sixes to surpass Afridi, who held the record with 351 sixes from 369 innings. Sharma surpassed his records in 100 fewer innings than the former Pakistan captain, as he now has 352 sixes in 269 innings.

Brief Scores: India: 349/8 in 50 overs (Virat Kohli 135, KL Rahul 60, Ottneil Baartman 2/60) vs South Africa. (ANI)