Kohli Chases Rare SENA Milestone in New Zealand ODI Series

Virat Kohli will head into the five-match ODI series against New Zealand with a rare opportunity: the one SENA country where he has never won a Player of the Match award. India begin the series at Eden Park, Auckland, on November 4, with Shubman Gill leading the side. The series is also a key stepping stone for Kohli and Rohit Sharma ahead of the ICC ODI World Cup 2027 in South Africa.

Chasing an Elite Club

Winning a Player of the Match award in New Zealand would put Kohli alongside Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma and Kapil Dev. Each of them has won the award in all four SENA nations: South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia. The 37-year-old has 45 such awards in ODIs, the third-highest ever. Only Sanath Jayasuriya (48) and Tendulkar (62) have more. Kohli has scored 15,109 runs in 317 ODIs and has 86 international centuries, still short of Tendulkar’s record of 100.

Form and Numbers

Kohli arrives in strong form. This season he has made 552 runs in nine ODIs, averaging 69 at a strike rate of 117.94. In New Zealand, he has 596 runs from 13 ODIs, with one century and four fifties. That is a solid record, though a match-winning performance there has so far eluded him.

The five ODIs run from November 4 to 15 across Auckland, Wellington, Hamilton and Mount Maunganui, with the last two matches at the same venue. Gill will captain the first three games, and Shreyas Iyer will lead the team in the final two.

With the World Cup less than a year away, every innings from India’s senior batters will be watched closely. A big knock from Kohli in New Zealand could help his team and also complete a milestone only a handful of Indian cricketers have reached.