Rohit-Virat's return, record-chase in highlight as India start ODI series against Australia at Perth

Perth [Australia], October 18 (ANI): Team India stalwarts Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, collectively known as 'Ro-Ko' will resume India's journey towards the 2027 ICC Cricket World Cup as Men in Blue start their three-match ODI series against Australia at Perth from Sunday onwards.
Rohit and Virat, whose last assignment was the ICC Champions Trophy win in March, will be making their return in Indian colours after seven months. The two legends, who announced their Test retirements ahead of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) 2025-27 cycle, starting with their tour to England earlier this year, would be a treat to the eyes of those desperate for a glimpse of their greatness as they continue doing what they do best: chasing records.
The series will be a crucial one for these two as they start their journey towards the ICC Cricket World Cup 2027, when they will be 40 and 39, respectively. With the age factor in play and the lack of ODIs being played, it would be interesting to see how these two superstars maintain their form, fitness, reflexes and desire to play the World Cup. Youngsters like Prabhsimran Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhishek Sharma and Tilak Varma's recent fine performances for India A have also raised speculations over how long the famed duo could continue.
In the last five ODI series between these two, Australia has won three, while India has won two. Both of India's wins came at home.
Here are some records the duo could break during the course of this series:
Rohit Sharma
In 499 matches, Rohit has so far scored 19,700 runs at an average of 42.18, with 49 centuries and 108 fifties and a best score of 264.
-54 more runs to move up in the ODI run-charts for India
Rohit needs 54 more runs to overcome former captain Sourav Ganguly (11,221 runs) to become India's third-highest ODI run-getter. In 273 matches, he has scored 11,168 runs at an average of 48.76 and a strike rate of 92.80, with 32 centuries and 58 fifties and a best score of 264.
-300 more runs to 20,000 international runs
Just three more centuries' worth of runs, and Rohit will be the 14th player to complete 20,000 international runs and only the fourth Indian player to do so.
-One more century to complete a half-century of centuries
With 49 international centuries to his name, his next century will be his 50th international cricket century, something only nine cricketers and only two from India, Sachin Tendulkar (100) and Virat Kohli (82), have done before.
-A few hits away from becoming the greatest-ever six-hitter in ODIs
Currently at 344 sixes in 273 matches, Rohit Sharma needs just eight sixes to overtake Pakistan's Shahid Afridi (351 sixes in 398 matches) to become the leading six-hitter in ODIs.
Virat Kohli
-54 more runs to become the second-highest ODI run-getter of all time.
Currently in 302 ODIs and 290 innings, with 14,181 runs at an average of 57.88, 51 centuries and 74 fifties, he is the third-highest run-getter of all time. He is just 54 runs away from becoming the second-highest run-getter in ODIs, overtaking Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara (14,234 runs in 404 matches)
-68 runs to surpass Sachin Tendulkar, become the highest run-getter in limited-overs cricket
Sachin is the highest run-getter in all of limited-overs cricket, with 18,426 runs in ODIs and 10 runs in a solitary T20I he played. This combines to make it 18,436 runs. Currently, Virat has 14,181 runs in ODIs and 4,188 runs in T20I cricket, making it a total of 18,369 runs. Just 68 more runs and Virat will soar past Sachin to become the greatest white-ball batter statistically.
-One century to secure the highest number of centuries by a player in a single format
Currently, Virat Kohli (51 tons in ODIs) and Sachin (51 in Tests) are equal owners of record for most centuries by a batter in a single format. One more century would mark his 52nd century in ODIs, marking the most amount of centuries by a batter within a single format.
-One more century to secure 30 overseas centuries, the most by an Asian batter
One more century means that Virat would have 30 centuries overseas, i.e, outside Asia. He will once again leapfrog Sachin, who also has 29 centuries in overseas conditions.
India Squad: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill (c), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul (w), Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj, Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Dhruv Jurel, Prasidh Krishna. (ANI)