India vs England 2026 1st ODI: Virat Kohli sets sights on Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni’s MASSIVE records

Kohli has been sidelined with a hamstring injury since the IPL 2026 final in which he scored a match-winning fifty against Gujarat Titans. He will not look to resume his quest to seal a berth in the Indian side in the ICC ODI World Cup 2027 in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia next year.

When Kohli walks out to bat under the captaincy of Shubman Gill in the first ODI, he will have major records of Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni on his radar that he will be aiming to take down. The Royal Challengers Bengaluru batter need 59 runs to go past Tendulkar’s tally of most runs in India vs England ODI matches.

Indian cricket legend Tendulkar has notched up 1455 runs in 37 ODI vs England at an average of 44.09 with 2 hundreds and 10 fifties so far. Kohli, on the other hand, has scored 1397 runs in 38 innings at an average of 41.08 with 3 tons and 10 half-centuries.

The 37-year-old Indian batter needs only 203 runs in the three-match series to complete 15000 runs in ODI cricket and become just the second batter after Tendulkar to achieve this feat. Kohli already has 54 tons in 311 ODIs – the most-ever by any batter in this format of the game.

Former India captain MS Dhoni holds the record for most ODI runs in India vs England encounters. From 44 innings, he has 1,546 runs, including a ton and 10 fifties. The former CSK wicketkeeper averages 46.84 against England in the format.

 

The second place belongs to former India southpaw Yuvraj Singh. He had scored 1,526 runs from 36 innings, averaging 50.76. His strike rate of 101.60 and is only second to Virender Sehwag among batters with 1,000-plus runs in India vs England ODIs. Yuvraj also holds the record for most centuries (four) in the India vs England ODI history. He has scored seven fifties against England as well.

Kohli can move past both Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh in this series, by scoring at least 150 runs in the 3 ODI games. The Indian batter has an average of 58.71 in ODI cricket so far. His record against England in England remains modest, with 581 runs in 16 innings with an average of 38.73 with a century and four fifties.

However, his overall ODI record in England (including ICC Champions Trophy and ICC ODI World Cup) is very impressive with 1349 runs in 33 innings at an average of 51.88. Apart from the one century, he also has 12 ODI fifties on England soil.

The last time he played in Birmingham was in 2019 ODI World Cup against Bangladesh when he scored 26 runs. In the ICC Champions Trophy 2017, he registered scores of 81 not out and 96 not out against Pakistan and Bangladesh respectively at Edgbaston.

In 3 ODIs in 2026, Kohli has scored 240 runs at an average of 80 and a strike-rate of 105.26 with 1 century and 1 fifty to his name.