Dubai: Come Sunday, Virat Kohli will be playing his 300th One-day International match when India take on New Zealand in their final Group A match of the 2025 Champions Trophy at the Dubai International Stadium here on Saturday. Playing against the Black Caps will make Kohli the seventh player from India to achieve this landmark after Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, MS Dhoni, Mohammed Azharuddin, Sourav Ganguly, and Yuvraj Singh.
Ahead of the match, New Zealand all-rounder Glenn Phillips said Kohli playing 300 ODI games is a very cool achievement, and his legacy in 50-over is something which will be remembered for a long time to come.
“Obviously, he’s an incredible player. To know him a little bit personally myself is awesome. He’s obviously an incredibly hard worker, and what he’s done for the sport, but also for Indian cricket and also people coming through the game as youngsters now is absolutely fantastic.”
“I think his legacy going forward will be remembered for a long time, inspiring a lot of people, and 300 ODIs, that’s a big feat, especially in today’s age, where one day cricket isn’t played as often as it used to be. So, it’s really cool for him,” said Phillips in the pre-match press conference.
Both India and New Zealand are already in the semifinals of the Champions Trophy, with the winner of Sunday’s game facing Australia and the losing side playing against South Africa. New Zealand have been a team who have consistently punched above their weight to enter ICC ODI events knockouts, and Phillips put it down to team culture.
“It comes down to, firstly, our team culture, which is bigger than our ourselves. It also comes down to the boys sticking to their processes individually. We obviously have a lot of trust in each other, and we all play our games differently, and I think when we got in the middle, we trust our mate next to us to be able to do what they train to do.”
“They put in the work, and they trust me to put in my work, and from there, we go out there and I guess can build that relationship on the field and be able to give to each other no matter what. I guess that builds a great team environment, and then cricket’s obviously a funny game. The results sometimes don’t go your way, but I think we’ve created a nice sort of consistent platform for us to build from,” he said.
Just like his in-form batting, Phillips has been in the limelight to take acrobatic catches on the field, and he stated that luck has been on his side to come good. “I think a great deal of luck is involved. I wish I could say that I’ve got a special little glue tag that I use, but unfortunately, that’s not the case.”
“If anything, my palms are more sweaty than anything else. So, it obviously comes down to a lot of hard work and doing the basics as much as I can and then sometimes luck just plays a good part in it.”
Asked about the importance of adapting to the conditions in Dubai quickly as it’s their first game of the competition at the venue, Phillips remarked, “The beauty of Pakistan is every pitch we’ve played on has been significantly different to the last. I think that’s been great preparation for us coming over to Dubai, knowing that the pitch is going to be different again.”
“We’ve had a lot of different situations and balls that have spun. We’ve had surfaces that have been flat and fast and boundaries that are small. Obviously, this ground presents itself with a different challenge of being potentially a little bit slower, more void of grass, and maybe slightly slower outfields.”
“So, I think we pride ourselves on trying to be as adaptable as possible. It doesn’t necessarily mean everything is foolproof and that we’re always going to come out on top. But I feel like we’ve got a lot of bases covered. As I said, we give to each other no matter what. So, to be able to come to a new situation and environment, we rise to the challenge and we always fight no matter what,” said Glenn Phillips.
(IANS)
