On Sunday, Virat Kohli achieved another remarkable feat, outpacing Sachin Tendulkar to become the second men’s cricketer and the quickest to amass 6,000 ODI runs in a single country. He achieved this milestone during the match against South Africa at Eden Gardens.
Kohli started batting after Rohit Sharma was out in the sixth over, with the score at 62/1. Although there were a few close calls for catches, especially on a tricky pitch, he partnered well with Shreyas Iyer, which was important.
Sachin Tendulkar scored 6,976 runs from 164 ODIs. He reached the 6,000-run mark after 145 innings. In contrast, Kohli achieved this milestone in just 119 innings. The third-highest run-scorer at home after these two Indians is Ricky Ponting, who accumulated 5,406 runs in 135 innings.
Kohli has shown his excellence in away matches as well, if not excelling. Among men’s batters, only four have scored over 5000 runs in away ODIs, and he is ranked second with 5336 runs, just under 150 runs behind Kumar Sangakkara and ahead of Tendulkar.
Virat Kohli is now the second male batter to reach 3000 runs against South Africa
He has now surpassed 3,000 runs against South Africa in international cricket, becoming the second batter to achieve this feat after Sachin Tendulkar. Tendulkar amassed 3,752 runs in 103 innings, while Kohli achieved the milestone in just 65 innings.
He achieved both these records on his 35th birthday. This is the first time he scored more than two runs in an international innings on November 5. Currently, he’s batting at 74 (90), and India’s score is 235/3.
“Every opportunity to play for India is big one for me. To be able to do that on my birthday, in front of the whole crowd, it’s stuff of dreams, something that as a child you wish had happened,” Kohli mentioned this after his record-equalling performance.
“I am very grateful to God that I have been blessed with these kinds of moments, so much love from the fans as well and just continue to help the team in any way possible.”
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