Team India's second World Cup warm-up game against the Netherlands got washed out on Tuesday, triggering a meme fest on social media. Incidentally, India's first warm-up fixture against defending champions England in Guwahati did not see any action either, with rain washing out the contest. With India becoming the only team without having bowled a ball or batted, fans on X, previously Twitter, roasted Rohit Sharma and his boys for traveling over 6,000 kilometers to see rain spoiling their party.

 

In particular, captain Rohit Sharma became a target of social media trolls after the warm-up game against the Netherlands did not happen due to rain in Thiruvananthapuram.

The India captain's mockery on the microblogging platform came in the context of providing less game time to the talismanic Virat Kohli, who could only play four ODIs in the last four months.

It is worth mentioning that Virat Kohli did not feature in ODI fixtures against the West Indies earlier this year because the Indian think tank comprising Rohit Sharma and head coach Rahul Dravid decided to give opportunities to other players.

Virat Kohli also missed India's Asia Cup match against Bangladesh and was rested from the first two ODIs against Australia.

“Just to adjust Tilak Verma and Suryakumar Yadav (SKY) in the playing XI, they rested Virat Kohli again and again. He'll be playing a WC match against Australia without any game time in the last 25 days,” an Indian cricket supporter pointed out on the influential messaging app.

According to ESPNCricinfo, “India traveled the length and breadth of the country for their warm-ups. After finishing their three-match ODI series against Australia in Rajkot in Gujarat, India's westernmost state, they traveled to Guwahati in the northeast and then to Thiruvananthapuram near the southern tip of the peninsula. Having covered over 6000km over those two journeys, India will now undertake the short journey to Chennai where they face Australia in their tournament opener on October 8.”

There's little doubt that Virat Kohli has spent less time on the crease. Despite that, the Delhi-born superstar has managed to break multiple records.

Last month, Virat Kohli made history in the Asia Cup, becoming the quickest to complete 13,000 runs in One-Day Internationals (ODIs).

With an unbeaten knock of 122 runs in 94 deliveries against Pakistan, Virat Kohli shattered his idol Sachin Tendulkar's long-standing record of being the fastest to reach 13,000 runs in the 50-over format.

While Sachin Tendulkar needed 321 essays to touch the 13,000-run milestone, Virat Kohli required only 267 innings to accomplish the landmark.

However, this was not the only accomplishment the 34-year-old premier India batter attained during his knock against Pakistan.

Remarkably, this was Virat Kohli's 47th ODI hundred, leaving him just two behind Sachin Tendulkar's record of 49.

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Also, his century against the Green Army was his fourth successive ton at the R Premadasa Stadium in Sri Lanka, making him the second man to do so at a single venue in international cricket.

Before him, former South African batter Hashim Amla achieved a similar feat at the SuperSport Park Cricket Stadium in Centurion.

Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma set a flurry of records in the third ODI against Australia in Rajkot in September.

Rohit Sharma began India's run chase explosively, smashing a quickfire 81 off 57 balls after Australia won the toss and posted 352/7 on the board.

Rohit Sharma's splendid innings included five boundaries and six sixes.

As the Nagpur-born cricketer's knock featured six maximums, Rohit Sharma shattered the record for most sixes in a single nation. Currently, he has 257 sixes to his name in India.

Previously, this record was with New Zealand opener Martin Guptill, who struck 256 sixes in his home country.

The other men who have smashed more than 200 sixes in a single country are Martin Guptill's New Zealand colleague Brendon McCullum (230) and Chris Gayle (228).

During his knock, Rohit Sharma also became the quickest to reach the landmark of 550 sixes across formats in international cricket.

While West Indies great Chris Gayle required 548 essays to accomplish the milestone, Rohit Sharma took only 471 innings to get there.

Among other milestones Rohit Sharma achieved in Rajkot was becoming the fifth Indian batter to score a half-century in the initial ten overs of a 50-over contest.

Before Rohit Sharma, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, and Robin Uthappa had attained the feat in One-Day Internationals.

The Men in Blue would kickstart their ICC ODI World Cup campaign against five-time champions Australia in Chennai on October 8.

The Indian cricket team will play their second World Cup match against arch-rivals Pakistan at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on October 14.