Virat Kohli needs 59 runs for 15,000 as India open the West Indies ODI series

Virat Kohli starts India's home one-day season 59 runs short of 15,000 in the format, at a ground where no bowler has yet dismissed him

India begin a three-match one-day series against West Indies at the Greenfield International Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday, the opening fixture of a home season built around next year's World Cup.

The match carries a milestone with it. Kohli goes into it on 14,941 ODI runs, which leaves him 59 away from a mark only Sachin Tendulkar has reached.

Shubman Gill captains India with KL Rahul as his deputy, and Shai Hope captains West Indies and keeps wicket. Play starts at 2pm.

Fifty-nine runs from rare company

Kohli's 14,941 runs have come from 314 matches and 302 innings at an average of 58.59, with 54 centuries, 79 fifties and a best of 183. Tendulkar, on 18,426, is the only batter to have gone past 15,000 in the format.

The opposition suits him. Kohli has 2,261 runs at 66.50 against them from 41 innings, with nine hundreds and eleven fifties.

Other Tendulkar marks sit within a season's reach. Kohli has 59 List A centuries to Tendulkar's 60, and 41 hundreds at home to his 42. In home ODI runs the gap is 110, Tendulkar's 6,976 from 164 matches against Kohli's 6,867 from 130.

A ground that has not dismissed him

Thiruvananthapuram has seen two men's ODIs and Kohli has batted in both, for 199 runs without being out.

The larger of those innings was 166 not out from 110 balls against Sri Lanka in January 2023, an innings of 13 fours and eight sixes that carried India to 390 for 5. Sri Lanka were bowled out for 73 in reply and lost by 317 runs.

The venue's other ODI produced nothing like those numbers, and the average first-innings score across the two matches is 247.

What the pitch has done here

Both previous matches rewarded bowlers who used the new ball. Mohammed Siraj took 4-32 against Sri Lanka in 2023 and Ravindra Jadeja 4-34 against West Indies in 2018, and they remain the leading wicket-takers at the ground.

The surface is expected to offer pace, carry and bounce early before easing for batting, with dew in the evening session a factor for whoever fields second.

West Indies will not want reminding of their last visit. In November 2018 they were bowled out here for 104, the second-lowest total the ground has seen.

India without Bumrah and Hardik

The selection committee named the squad on 16 September without Jasprit Bumrah or Hardik Pandya, leaving Siraj and Prasidh Krishna to lead the seam attack alongside Gurnoor Brar and Auqib Nabi.

Rohit Sharma, Kohli, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav and Naman Dhir complete the fifteen.

Hope has Alzarri Joseph, Shamar Joseph, Jayden Seales and Gudakesh Motie to lean on with the ball, and Roston Chase, Keacy Carty, John Campbell and Sherfane Rutherford the batting he has to work with.

The last lap to 2027

Kohli told JioStar on Saturday that next year's tournament will be his last in India colours. "For me, it's the last World Cup I'm going to play for India. And that is my motivation," he said, adding that "the goal is absolutely to win the World Cup".

India and West Indies have met 142 times in one-day cricket, India winning 72 and West Indies 64, with two ties and four matches producing no result.

The series is the first block of a home programme that India will use to settle a World Cup side, and the questions it is meant to answer sit mostly in the middle order and the bowling.

The series moves to Guwahati on 30 September and finishes at New Chandigarh on 3 October.

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