7 milestones Indian cricketers can achieve in 2019
Having subdued West Indies in the recently concluded ODI and T20I series at home, India will be now be playing its next ODI series in 2019 against Australia in their backyard. India's tour of Australia will commence on 21st November with the T20I series as the starter. After the completion of the T20I series, India will play a four-match Test series against Australia which will end just before the stroke of the New Year.
The year 2019 will be of much greater importance in the books of Indian cricket. India will be starting 2019 with an ODI series against Australia. Post which, they will contest a T20I series and an ODI series against New Zealand before Australia's tour of India in February. Thus, before the start of the 2019 World Cup, India will have some decent exposure to settle themselves with an improved playing combination.
Hence, India will be playing a decent number of matches in 2019. Thus, in this article, we will be looking at seven milestones that the Indian players are expected to achieve in the year 2019.
#1 Shikhar Dhawan approaching 5000 runs in ODI cricket
Shikhar Dhawan, the left-handed batsman from Delhi, is now a household name in Indian cricket, especially in the limited overs format. "Gabbar" has been India's premier opener for past five years. Dhawan, along with Rohit Sharma, has worked wonders for India. Besides that, the Delhite has been the go-to man for India in many ICC tournaments. Having won the Golden Bat two times (Champions Trophy 2013 and 2017), Dhawan will undeniably be India's one of the key players in 2019 World Cup.
Interestingly, Dhawan is just short of a milestone in ODI cricket. The left-handed veteran is a mere 65 runs away from the 5000-run mark in ODI cricket. Amassing these runs, Dhawan will become the 13th Indian to surpass the 5000-run mark. Besides, reaching the 5000-run mark in the next innings, he will become the fourth fastest player and second-fastest Indian to breach the 5000-run mark. The fastest Indian to score 5000 runs is Virat Kohli who did it in 114 innings. Moreover, the fastest player to reach 5000 ODI runs is Hashim Amla who has done it in 101 innings.