IND vs NZ 1st Test: Rohit, Kohli, Ashwin On Cusp Of 3 Major Milestones

India's three veteran cricketers Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin are on the brink of achieving another significant milestone during Test against New Zealand.

Bengaluru (Karnataka): India captain Rohit Sharma, batting stalwart Virat Kohli and ace all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin are on the cusp of creating major milestones as India take on New Zealand in the first Test of the three-match series at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru on Wednesday, October 16, 2024.

Having registered a clean sweep over Bangladesh in the previous series 0-2, Men in Blue are full of confidence as they look to whitewash the visitors to boost their chances to reach the World Test Championship (WTC) final, in London next year. On the other hand, the Black Caps will be led by their new captain Tom Latham after Tim Southee stepped down from the captaincy following their thrashing from Sri Lanka earlier this month.

After Rohit Sharma's men scripted history with an emphatic win in two days in the second Test against Bangladesh at Green Park in Kanpur, plenty of records are waiting for them in the series opener against New Zealand. Captain Rohit Sharma, who began his innings in the last Test in style with consecutive sixes, needs only four more maximums to become India’s leading six-hitter in Test cricket.

The 37-year-old Rohit has 87 sixes in 61 matches so far and is just three sixes behind former India opener Virender Sehwag’s tally of 90 sixes, who currently holds the record for most sixes by an Indian in Tests. Given his recent form and aggressive nature in the batting, Rohit won’t take much time to reach the landmark and is likely to get done with it in the first Test itself if the weather permits.

Virat Kohli, the former India skipper, is just 53 runs away from completing 9,000 runs and becomes the fourth India and 18th player overall to achieve the landmark in Test cricket. Kohli currently has 8,947 runs from 115 matches (193 innings) at an average of 48.89 with 29 hundreds and 30 fifties.

Apart from Kohli, off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, world number two all-rounder, will be looking to claim four wickets quickly to surpass Australian great Nathan Lyon’s tally of 530 wickets and become the joint seventh-highest wicket-taker in Tests. The 37-year-old cricketer, who hails from Chennai, currently has 527 wickets from 102 Test at an average of 23.65 with 37 five-wicket hauls to his name.