India National Cricket Team vs New Zealand National Cricket Team Match: Virat Kohli received a rousing welcome upon arriving at Vadodara airport on Wednesday ahead of India’s three-match ODI series against New Zealand. Fans gathered at the airport, chanting “Kohli, Kohli,” as the former India captain exited the terminal. Despite tight security, the scene turned chaotic, and Kohli required assistance from security personnel to reach his car safely.
Kohli has been in remarkable form since returning to international cricket during India’s Australia tour in October last year. After a slow start with two ducks, he scored consecutive centuries in India’s recent ODI series against South Africa and was the team’s leading scorer.
In domestic cricket, Kohli recently played in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, marking his return to List A cricket after 15 years. He scored 131 and 77 in his two matches, surpassing 16,000 List A runs and breaking Sachin Tendulkar’s record for the fastest player to reach the milestone.
Kohli, 37, has 27,975 runs in 623 international innings, including 84 centuries and 145 half-centuries. He is 25 runs short of becoming the fastest cricketer to reach 28,000 international runs, a mark only Tendulkar and Kumar Sangakkara have achieved. He also has a strong record against New Zealand, scoring 1,657 runs in 33 ODIs, including six centuries and nine half-centuries.
India will also welcome back captain Shubman Gill and vice-captain Shreyas Iyer, both of whom missed the previous ODI series against South Africa due to injury.
India’s 15-member squad for the series is: Shubman Gill (captain), Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (vice-captain), KL Rahul (wicketkeeper), Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj, Harshit Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Kuldeep Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper) and Nitish Kumar Reddy.
