Virat Kohli set to open innings in 3rd ODI against Australia; Know his record as an opener

India is currently playing their final ODI against Australia. With Ishan Kishan and Shubman Gill out of the squad, the question arose after skipper Rohit Sharma at the toss said that Kishan would be out due to illness. Former India skipper Virat Kohli is likely to open the innings for India alongside Rohit.

Kishan is not the only player ruled out due to the viral infection. There are two other players as well, with pacer Mohammed Shami and all-rounder Shardul Thakur. India has already won the series and will look to whitewash Australia and make history of clean-sweeping the mighty Aussies.

With no openers left for the Asian Giants, Virat Kohli might be promoted to the opening spot, with Shreyas Iyer playing at the No.3 position. Iyer, in the last match, scored a brilliant century while batting at that position. He has made a mark in ODI cricket as a No.3 batter. But in his debut one-day match the former captain's debut appearance for the Men in Blue was as an opener. He opened the innings in all five matches of his very first ODI series against Sri Lanka in 2008.

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Kohli's record as an opener

In the first match, he only scored 12 runs in just 22 balls. He hit a fifty in the fourth ODI against the Lankans. The 34-year-old batter has only scored 166 runs in seven matches at an average of 23.71. In 2014 he next batted at the opening spot against New Zealand. His last appearance as an opening batter in ODIs came in the second game against Bangladesh in December 2022. After Rohit Sharma injured his arm while taking a catch in the first inning and could not come to open with Shikhar Dhawan, Kohli was promoted up the order and he just scored five runs.

The legendary batter has scored 13,027 runs at an other-worldly average of 57.38 and a 93.79 strike rate in 280 ODI games. He is also just two centuries away from tying Sachin Tendulkar's 49 ODI century record. Before the World Cup, he would definitely try to continue his good form.