Virat Kohli Completes 11 Glorious Years In International Cricket - A Look At His Staggering Numbers

It was on August 18 in 2008 when the current India skipper Virat Kohli made his entry to international cricket. Kohli made his debut against Sri Lanka in the ODIs and scored only 12 runs when he opened the innings. But once he occupied the no three spot in India’s batting order, there was no looking back for the talismanic run-scorer as he went onto become one of the greatest in the modern-day game.

Kohli – A Modern-Day Genius

The Delhi-born cricket brought his first century in 2009 and now within a decade is the batsman with the second-most ODI tons after his idol Sachin Tendulkar. Virat Kohli has been on a record-breaking spree as in the recently concluded ODI series against West Indies, as he became the first batsman to score 20,000 international runs in a decade. He was also the fastest to reach 10000 international runs. Kohli is also the number one Test and ODI batsman currently. Last year, Kohli became the first captain to score 1000+ Test runs in three consecutive years.

Also read: Predicting The Time When Virat Kohli Can Break Sachin Tendulkar’s ODI Records

Kohli reached the pinnacle of success with sheer passion and grit. His hunger for runs is something to learn for the youngsters. There is no better batsman than Kohli in chases: he says targets allow him to think clearly and pace his innings. He is unique in that he allies this clarity of thought with a classical batting technique and a supremely confident mindset. A stable head, sure footwork and firm wrists are part of Kohli’s arsenal, which helps him play an array of audacious shots.

Virat Kohli has so far played 239 ODIs, 77 Tests and 70 T20Is for the country. He currently has 11,520 ODI runs, 6613 Test runs and 2369 T20I runs. He is the second-highest run-scorer for India in ODIs. With time and age by his side, the talismanic run-scorer is in line to break many more records across the formats.

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

Kohli has been the recipient of many awards such as the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy (ICC Cricketer of the Year) in 2017 and 2018; ICC Test Player of the Year 2018; ICC ODI Player of the Year in 2012, 2017 and 2018 and Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World in 2016, 2017 and 2018. He was given the Arjuna Award in 2013, the Padma Shri under the sports category in 2017 and the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, the highest sporting honour in India, in 2018. Kohli is ranked as one of the world’s most famous athletes by ESPN and one of the most valuable athlete brands by Forbes. In 2018, Time magazine named Kohli one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

We from Cricket Addictor will wish another decade full of runs for Virat Kohli and win more laurels for the country.