India Vs Pakistan: Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma Just 2 Runs Away From Scripting ODI World Record In Asia Cup Clash

Rohit and Virat will go past 5,000 runs as a pair in ODI cricket, taking the least number of innings to make the world record. They hope to achieve this feat against Pakistan.

Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. (Source: ANI)

India play Pakistan in the third match of Asia Cup 2023. Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will be India's two key batters in this big game. It will be interesting to see how the two fare vs the arch-rivals. History tells us that Kohli enjoys batting against Pakistan. In 23 matches, all white-ball games, Kohli has smashed 1,024 runs against Pakistan at a brilliant average of 60.23. He has also scored two hundreds and 7 fifties respectively for India against Pakistan.

Rohit and Kohli on cusp of massive feat

Rohit ans Kohli enjoy batting with each other, in partnerships. They have batted together in 85 innings, stroking 4,998 runs. That means they are just 2 runs away from completely the landmark of 5,000 runs together in ODIs. What makes this feat even bigger is the fact that no other pair has reached the number of 5,000 runs in ODIs in quicker time that Kohli. Rohit and Kohli will be the fastest to 5,000 runs on Saturday against Pakistan if they do so.

_____ ___! __

India _ Pakistan

_ Kandy, Sri Lanka

___ __ _________ for our first game of #AsiaCup23! _ _#TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/LrRbeQjTH3— BCCI (@BCCI) September 2, 2023

Kohli and Rohit's partnership average in ODI cricket is a brilliant 62.47. They have made 15 century partnerships while also building 18 half-centuries in the process. Indian team will be hoping they get to see another massive stand between the cricketers in this big game against Pakistan.

Key battles within India vs Pakistan clash

There are going to be many key battles taking place within the bigger India vs Pakistan clash. One of them will be the battle between Rohit Sharma and Shaheen Shah Afridi. Rohit will most probably take the strike for the first ball while Shaheen bowls the first over for Pakistan. Shaheen is known for his destructive first overs and in the past, he has taken wickets of the Indian top-order in just the first over or the first spell. Rohit will have to watch out for him. 

Virat Kohli vs Haris Rauf will be another battle to watch out for. Remember that six off Kohli's bat that changed the complexion of the game in the T20 World Cup last year. That was hit against Rauf. Kohli and Rauf had a friendly meet up a day before but during the game, they will be serious competitors trying to outdo each other. Let's see who comes out on the top this time. Another exciting clash will be between Kuldeep Yadav and Babar Azam. The last time India and Pakistan met in an ODI, it was in the ICC Men's ODI World Cup 2019, and Kuldeep had cleaned up Babar with a beauty of a delivery. Will Babar win this contest today?