Reaching milestones and breaking records has become a usual norm for India captain Virat Kohli. And when his team take on Afghanistan on June 22 at the Rose Bowl Ground in Southampton, he will have another record to chase.
Last Sunday, June 16, he became the fastest player to reach 11000 ODI runs, breaking Sachin Tendulkar’s record on the way. Added to this, his knock of 77 off 65 deliveries means that he is now just 104 runs away from completing 20,000 international runs.
If Kohli achieves the target against the Afghans on Saturday, he will become the 12th batsman to do so and only the third Indian after Tendulkar (34,357 runs) and Rahul Dravid (24,208 runs) to reach the milestone.
As of now, the India captain has scored 11020 runs in ODIs, 6613 in Tests and 2263 in T20Is. If the target is achieved, he will also become the fastest to reach the landmark. As of now, as many as two players share the stake - Tendulkar and West Indies’ great Brian Lara as both of them took 453 innings to complete 20,000 international runs. The list is followed by the former Australia captain, Ricky Ponting who took 468 innings.
As for Kohli, the 30-year-old has only played 415 innings (131 in Tests, 222 in ODIs and 62 in T20Is) and if the milestone is breached, he will break the record by quite a comfortable margin. Meanwhile, as far as the World Cup is concerned, India sit fourth in the table after three victories in four games. During this tenure, Kohli, who has scored two half-centuries so far, has amassed 177 runs at an average of 59.00.
Feature image courtesy: AFP / Dibyangshu Sarkar
