Birthday Special: 10 Virat records held by Kohli

Virat Kohli takes a giant stride towards cricketing immortality every time he goes to bat these days, especially in ODIs. Kohli scores runs and centuries prolifically and with a mastery that marks him out an extraordinary. The recent ODI series against New Zealand highlights this amply. Two centuries in three matches made Kohli the highest scorer on either side. These helped him regain the International Cricket Council No.1 ranking for batsmen in ODIs and also enhanced his run tally in 2017 to 1,460—the highest by any captain ever in one year.

The Indian skipper has taken his game to dizzying levels and currently, he is clubbed with Kane Williamson, Steve Smith and Joe Rooyt when there is any talk of the best batsmen going around. From a brash young man, Kohli has emergd as the lynching of Indian batting acroos all three formats. Also, he is the captain of the side and the man has undergone tremendous transformation both with the bat and physically and has set the bar very hight for all his competitors.

Team India, under Kohli has blossomed into a formidable unit and has been brushing aside oppositions in the ongoing home season.

In this list, we take a look at records Kohli have broken over the years:

Highest ICC points

Indian skipper Virat Kohli, who has managed to score 263 runs, with two centuries in the just-concluded three-match ODI series against New Zealand, reached 899 points which is the best ever by an Indian cricketer. In the process, he surpassed Sachin Tendulkar’s tally of 889 points, which was achieved in the year 1997. With this Virat Kohli reclaimed the No 1 spot in the latest ICC rankings for ODI batsmen.

Fastest to 9000 ODI runs

Virat Kohli, during the 3rd ODI against New Zealand at Sunday, became the fastest to reach 9000 ODI runs. Kohli took just 194 innings to create the record. With this the Team India captain has broken AB de Villiers’ record of the fastest cricketer to reach the milestone. de Villiers’ took 205 innings. Kohli has taken nine years and 72 days to reach this milestone- the latest time taken by a batsman to complete, 9,000 runs. Meanwhile, Hashim Amla, recently became the fastest to 6000 runs, taking just 123 innings, breaking Kohli’s record with 136 innings.

Virat Kohli-Rohit Sharma partnership

On Sunday, when India were in dire need of a stupendous show against New Zealand in the series-deciding third ODI at Kanpur, the skipper and his deputy stepped up in top-class fashion to script the home team’s six-run victory over the Kiwis. Virat Kohli (113) and Rohit Sharma (147) stitched a record-breaking 230-run stand and inked their name among the most prolific duo ever in ODIs. With four such partnerships to their name in just 61 innings, they sit atop on the list of ‘most double century stands in ODIs’. There are three other pairs who have three 200-plus partnerships to their name – Gautam Gambhir and Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, Upul Tharanga and Mahela Jayawardene.

Record six centuries in a year

Kohli has 32 hundreds in ODIs- five vs New Zealand. And with his latest hundred (113) vs New Zealand at Kanpur, Kohli became the second Indian captain to post 10 hundreds in ODIs. Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly had the most, with 11. However, he has scored six centuries in a calender year is a record by an Indian captain in ODIs. Former Aussie captain Ricky Ponting had achieved the feat twice (in 2003 and 2007). Ganguly (2000), Graeme Smith (2005) and AB de Villiers (2015) had five centuries each as captain.

Most ODI centuries

Recently, Kohli overtook Aussie great Ricky Ponting’s record of most ODIs centuries (30), as he got to his 31st ton against New Zealand in the first ODI at Mumbai’s Wankhede last week. Kohli is now behind only to Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar, who occupies the top spot with 49 tons in the ODIs.

 

Most runs in a calender year

Fastest to 10 Test centuries among Indian captains

When Virat Kohli notched 103* in the first Test against Sri Lanka in July, the 28-year-old became the fastest to score 10 Test centuries as India’s captain. The Delhi batsman took just 44 innings to get to the landmark, ahead of the next best Indian, Sunil Gavaskar by 8 innings. Australia’s Sir Donald Bradman leads the list with 26 innings.

Most double-hundreds as India’s Test captain

Virat Kohli became the first Indian captain to score a double century in 84 years, when he notched his maiden 200 in West Indies in 2016. Little did we know that the run machine would score a double century in each of the next three Test series, making it four double centuries as captain. He presently holds the record of the most double centuries scored by an Indian captain. Brian Lara has scored the most double centuries (5) as Test captain.

First-ever duck in T20Is

The Indian skipper failed to open his account in the 2nd T2-I against Australia in Guwahati which turned out to be his first ever duck in the T20Is. Kohli played 47 innings in 51 matches without getting out on zero in the shortest format of the game.

Playing only his second T20I game, Aussie pacer Jason Behrendorff dismissed Kohli for a duck in his 48th innings. Before Kohli, it was Pakistan batsman Shoaib Malik who held the record of taking the most number of innings (40) to get out on duck in T20Is.

Most Consecutive wins as Indian captain

Virat Kohli has always spoken about maintaining the intensity in every match, even if it’s a dead rubber. India proved that they have bought into the captain’s idea when they whitewashed Sri Lanka in all formats. India first won the Test series 3-0, then ODI series 5-0 and then the lone T20 as well. After coming back home, India decimated Australia as well in the first ODI, making it 10 wins on the trot.

Led India to its longest unbeaten streak in Tests

When India beat England by an innings and 75 runs in the fifth Test in December last year, India recorded their longest unbeaten streak – 18 matches, going past their earlier record of 17 matches. The 17-match unbeaten streak was recorded between September 1985 and March 1987. India recorded one more Test win (against Bangladesh), before losing to Australia in February this year. The unbeaten streak began in Sri Lanka in August 2015.