Virat Kohli Becomes The First Batsman To Score 20,000 Runs In A Decade

It seems like the run-machine is back for the Indian National Cricket Team. The flamboyant batsman Virat Kohli showed his class to knock two centuries in two matches, thus, taking the man of the series award. During the course, he broke quite a few records to his name as a player and as a skipper.

Virat Kohli became the only batsman in the history of cricket to score 20000 international runs in a decade (2009-2019). Kohli’s accomplishment takes him ahead of former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting, who held the record for the most international runs scored in a decade with 18962 runs in the 2000s.

Virat Kohli overtakes Ricky Ponting:

Kohli’s accomplishment takes him ahead of former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting, who held the record for the most international runs scored in a decade with 18962 runs in the 2000s. Virat Kohli made his Test and T20I debut in 2010 while he had already scored 484 runs in ODI cricket in the previous decade after making his debut in the 50-over format in 2008.

On the list of most international runs scored in a decade, Kohli is followed by Ricky Ponting (18,962 runs), Jacques Kallis (16,777 runs), Mahela Jayawardene (16,304 runs), Kumar Sangakkara (15,999 runs), Sachin Tendulkar (15,962 runs), Rahul Dravid (15,853 runs) and Hashim Amla (15,185 runs).

The Indian skipper got past the 20,000-run mark when hit a match-winning 114 not out in just 99 balls in the 3rd ODI of a 3-match series against West Indies in Port of Spain on Wednesday. Kohli’s second successive and 43rd ODI hundred helped India seal a 2-0 win in the ODI series.

In another mind-boggling stat, Kohli’s 43rd ODI hundred was his 9th against the West Indies. The Indian captain thus equalled Sachin Tendulkar’s record. The batting maestro had made nine centuries against Australia. Kohli achieved the feat in 35 innings where was Tendulkar took 70 innings to score 9 centuries.

All in all, Virat Kohli is once again back on the track with his brutal display of batting. For the same, he collected the man of the match and man of the series award after the conclusion of last ODI on Wednesday.