Virat Kohli becomes fastest to 9000 ODI runs, breaks AB de Villiers' record
Kanpur: Team India captain Virat Kohli on Sunday became the fastest to reach 9000 ODI runs, taking just 194 innings, thanks to a fantastic innings against New Zealand in the third ODI here.
The Team India captain has broken de Villiers' record of the the fastest cricketer to reach the milestone, with the South African batsman taking 205 innings.
The 28-year-old achieved the 8000-run mark in ODIs, in just 175 innings, breaking AB de Villiers’ record, who took 182 innings. The captain, with 8917 runs, needs just 83 more runs to reach the 9000 mark, and surpass the South African big-hitter.
Kohli, in 2013, became the fastest player to 5000 ODI runs, equalling West Indies’ Viv Richards record, reaching the mark in 114 innings. That recxord is currently held by South Africa’s Hashim Amla, who took just 101 innings.
Hashim Amla, meanwhile, recently became the fastest to 6000 runs, taking just 123 innings, breaking Kohli’s record with 136 innings.
Kohli recently overtook Australian Ricky Ponting’s record of most centuries (30) in ODIs, as he got to his 31st ton against New Zealand in the first ODI in Mumbai last week. Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar currently holds the record, with 49 centuries in the format.
The 28-year-old currently has 97 sixes to his name, and needs just three sixes to become the eighth Indian to 100 ODI sixes, and become the 33rd player to achieve the feat.
Interestingly, his teammate Rohit Sharma has more sixes than Kohli in the format, with already 148 shots over the boundary rope. Rohit needs just two more sixes to reach the 150-mark, thereby becoming the fifth Indian and the 12th player overall to achieve the feat.
The story does not end here. The Delhi batsman has now aggregated 2000 runs in 2017. This is not the first time he has aggregated 2000 runs in a calendar year, as he has previously achieved the feat in 2012, 2014 and the latest in 2016.
Kohli will hope to carry on the positive momentum in the ongoing third ODI against New Zealand at Kanpur. Having lost the first ODI by six wickets, the Men in Blue bounced back to defeat the Kiwis by the same margin, and force for a series decider.
