Veteran batsman Virat Kohli scored a superb half-century in India’s first One-Day International against New Zealand on Sunday, January 11, at Vadodara’s BCA Stadium. India triumphed by four wickets, taking a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat, making 300/8 off their fifty overs. India, in turn, chased down the target in 49 overs with six wickets to spare and ended on 306/6. Virat Kohli was the top scorer with 93 off 91 balls, which included eight boundaries and a six, at a strike rate of 102.2. His was his 77th ODI fifty but he missed out on the deserved century.
He was named the ‘Player of the Match’, his 45th such award in ODIs. Kohli has been in scintillating form and has now scored his fifth consecutive fifty across formats.
And with that being said, here are 5 records/milestones Virat Kohli has broken in the course of this game.
5. Fifth to score 3000 INTERNATIONAL runs against New Zealand (All forms)
Virat Kohli was the fifth batsman to hit 3000 international runs against New Zealand across all formats combined. He now has 3020 runs from 59 matches and 71 innings at an average of 46.46 with nine centuries and 16 half-centuries.
He became the 5th player to have done this, Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting (2 times), Jacques Kallis and Joe Root. He also reached 100 50-plus scores across formats batting at No.3, making him only the third player to that (the others are Ponting and Kumar Sangakkara).
4. Tied second-most runs for India in ODIs versus New Zealand
Raj became the joint second-highest run-getter for India in ODIs against New Zealand. Kohli now has 1750 runs against New Zealand in ODIs from 34 matches with an average of 56.45 and a strike rate of 95.83, scoring six hundreds and nine half-centuries. He equaled the record for most runs scored in a T20I inning against New Zealand by an Indian.
Kohli was second on the list to Tendulkar, who has 1750 runs against the Kiwis in ODI from 42 matches at an average of 46.05 and strike rate of 95.36, with five hundreds and eight half-centuries.
3. India’s fifth most-capped ODI player
Virat Kohli broke a record even before he walked onto the pitch during first ODI clash with New Zealand. He moved to fifth on the list of most-capped Indian players in the format, with 309 appearances. He went past former captain Sourav Ganguly’s 308 ODIs.
He is followed by Mohammad Azharuddin (334 matches), Rahul Dravid (340 matches), MS Dhoni (347 matches) and Tendulkar, who played 463 matches. In all, Kohli has so far represented India in 557 games across formats.
2. Second leading run-scorer in international cricket
Virat Kohli kept on rising up the run-scoring ladder in international cricket. The 93-run innings saw him become the second highest run-scorer in international cricket. He overtook Sangakkara, who ended his Test career with 28016 runs in 666 innings.
Kohli now has aggregated 28068 runs from 624 innings at an average of 52.66 and strike rate of 79.51 including 84 hundreds and 146 fifties. He is behind only Tendulkar on the list, with 34357 runs from 782 innings.
1. Fastest to 28000 International runs
Virat Kohli became only the third batsman to go past 28000 international runs, coming after Tendulkar and Sangakkara. Other than Sachin, he is the second Indian to do it and another humungous feather added in his hat.
Kohli, meanwhile, is the fastest man to 28000 international runs. He reached the milestone in just 624 innings, surpassing Tendulkar — who held the previous record by doing it in 644 innings.
