All eyes on Virat Kohli as Indian icon eyes second hat-trick of ODI tons during 3rd IND-SA ODI

Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) [India], December 5 (ANI): The final ODI between India and South Africa will take place at Visakhapatnam's Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, which has historically been a happy hunting ground for Indian batting legend Virat Kohli, who will be aiming to complete a hat-trick of centuries in the series.

The third ODI between India and South Africa, with scoreline level at 1-1, will take place at Visakhapatnam. Having already scored 237 runs in the series, with a blistering 135 in 120 balls at Ranchi, followed by a more controlled 102 in 93 balls at Raipur, Virat would be aiming for a hat-trick of centuries.

If Virat pulls off an hat-trick, he could become the first-ever Indian batter to have pulled off two hat-tricks of ODI centuries and overall second after Pakistan's Babar Azam. He had previously done so against the West Indies way back in 2018, scoring 140, 157* and 107 in the first three ODIs. Virat had ended as the 'Player of the Series' with 453 runs in five innings at an average of 151.00 and a strike rate of almost 113.

At Visakhapatnam so far, Virat has smashed 587 runs across seven innings at an average of 97.83, with a strike rate of 100.34, including three centuries, two fifties, and a best score of 157*. This is the most runs he has scored at an Indian venue.

Perhaps the best memory of Virat at Visakhapatnam came way back in 2010, when, at the age of just 21, he played a clutch knock of 118 in 121 balls, with 11 fours and a six, to help India chase down 290 in the second ODI against Australia after India were down at 35/2.

Also, Virat stands just 90 runs away from joining legends Sachin Tendulkar (34,357 runs) and Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara (28,016 runs) to become the third batter to complete 28,000 runs in international cricket. In 555 international matches, he has made 27,910 runs at an average of 52.46, with 84 centuries and 144 fifties in 622 innings, with a best score of 254*.

In 12 ODIs this year, Virat has scored 586 runs in 12 innings at an average of 58.60, with a strike rate of 92.72, including three centuries, three fifties and a best score of 135.

Squads:

India Squad: Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Ruturaj Gaikwad, KL Rahul(w/c), Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Rishabh Pant, Tilak Varma, Dhruv Jurel, Nitish Kumar Reddy

South Africa Squad: Aiden Markram, Quinton de Kock(w), Temba Bavuma(c), Matthew Breetzke, Dewald Brevis, Tony de Zorzi, Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Keshav Maharaj, Nandre Burger, Lungi Ngidi, Ryan Rickelton, Ottneil Baartman, Rubin Hermann, Prenelan Subrayen. (ANI)

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