ICC World Cup 2019, India vs South Africa: Virat Kohli on verge of joining MS Dhoni, Sourav Ganguly in elite list ahead of opener

Virat Kohli has already established himself as one of the best batsmen in the world but during the ICC World Cup 2019 encounter between India and South Africa on Tuesday, he will be on the verge of adding a major accolade to his captaincy records.

If India can beat South Africa in their opening match, it will be Kohli’s 50th ODI win as skipper. As a result, he will become the fourth India skipper to achieve the feat after MS Dhoni, Mohammed Azharuddin and Sourav Ganguly.

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MS Dhoni tops the list with 110 wins but when it comes to winning percentage, Kohli is on top with 73.88%.

Ahead of the match, Kohli said that he has learnt to deal with aspirations of a cricket-mad country but making right decisions consistently on a cricket field is a gradual process.

Ready to lead India as captain in an ODI World Cup for the first time, a billion people want their skipper to score a hundred every time he walks out to bat.

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Kohli has had the distinction of scoring centuries in India’s opening games in the 2011 (vs Bangladesh) and the 2015 (vs Pakistan) editions. Ask him if he could complete coveted hat-trick against South Africa in India’s World cup opener on Wednesday, Kohli said dealing with such expectations is now part and parcel of his life.

“Look, when you perform and you perform for a long time, expectations are always there and I sort of understood how to go along with the expectations. You don’t go out there to prove anything to anyone, which is a fact, but you have to accept that expectations are going to be there,” Kohli said ahead of India’s opening game.

(With agency inputs)