Virat Kohli, a pillar of India’s batting lineup, made his debut in an ODI match against Sri Lanka 15 years ago today, on this day in 2008. Virat had already cemented his place in history by leading India to victory in the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup just a few months before the Sri Lanka series. He had persuasively argued his case for wearing the Indian cap going forward, much like many U19 leaders before him. In this article, we will take a look at 15 amazing facts from Virat Kohli’s journey in international cricket.
Kohli’s astonishing T20 World Cup average in chases
It is commonly known that Kohli has had success at the T20 World Cups with the bat. In both 2014 and 2016, he was named Player of the Tournament, and his track record in chases is especially impressive. In the 10 games he has batted in chases, India has won nine of them and in eight of those games, he remained unbeaten.
In those ten chases, Kohli averages 270.5, nearly twice the average of Marcus Stoinis (146), the next-best batter among batters who have played at least five innings. In successful chases, Kohli’s average soars to 518, over five times that of the runner-up, Cameron White (104).
Centuries at 46 venues
Kohli has played in 83 venues so far in his international career. He has the record for having centuries at second most venues. Out of these 83 venues, Kohli has scored centuries at 46. Adelaide Oval stands out as his most successful hunting place where he has scored 5 tons. Sachin Tendulkar is the only cricketer to have centuries at more venues which comes as no surprise. The God of Cricket has scored centuries at 53 venues.
More than 500 kilometres between the wickets
Virat Kohli has run over 277 kilometres between wickets for his runs. When he was at the crease, he also ran another 233 kilometres during his partners’ runs, bringing the total to about 510 kilometres. Kohli has only ever scored an all-run four once, against Zimbabwe in an ODI in 2013.
Century in 9 countries
With Bangladesh being the lone exception, Kohli has reached the century mark in each of the nine nations where he has played ODI cricket and seven of the eight nations where he has played Test cricket. In six nations — Australia, England, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, South Africa, and West Indies — he has scored hundreds in both Test and One-Day International matches against the host team. Only two players—Sachin Tendulkar and Kumar Sangakkara, who each had seven, have both Test and ODI tonnes against the home team in as many or more countries as Kohli.
Best ODI batting run in 10 matches
In a period of ten ODI innings in 2018, from February to October, Kohli amassed nearly 1000 runs. Between his 197th and 206th ODI innings, Kohli scored 995 runs at an average of 142.14, with five hundred and three fifty-plus scores. The batter’s 10-inning streak in ODIs is the best. David Warner’s previous record of 857 runs scored between October 2016 and June 2017 was surpassed by him by 138 runs.
Perfect World Cup debuts
In the opening match of the 2011 World Cup, Kohli gave his World Cup career a perfect start by scoring an unbroken century against Bangladesh in Dhaka. He became the first player to score a hundred on his men’s ODI World Cup debut and fifty on his men’s T20 World Cup debut when he scored fifty against Afghanistan a year later. With a fifty in the 2014 T20 World Cup and a century on the first day of the 2015 ODI World Cup, Aaron Finch equalled this feat.
Virat Kohli beats Sri Lanka by 93 runs
In the Thiruvananthapuram ODI earlier this year, Virat Kohli scored 166 runs without being dismissed as India amassed 390 for five in their 50 overs. As Sri Lanka was bowled out for only 73, they went on to win by a record-breaking 317 runs, the largest margin in men’s ODI history.
The Sri Lankans were outscored by Kohli alone by 93 runs, the second-largest margin between a batter’s score and the opposing team’s total in an ODI match for men.
Unique centuries while chasing
After entering the batting in the 27th over against Australia in Jaipur, Kohli scored the quickest ODI century for India in 2013. Later in the same series, he scored a century in Nagpur off 61 balls, which was the third-fastest score for India in the format. The only player to have multiple hundreds in ODI chases while entering to bat after the 25th over is Kohli. The only other batsmen with a century in an ODI chase after the end of the 25th over are Jos Buttler, Abdul Razzaq, Jacob Oram and Kevin Pietersen.
Three whitewashes in 5 match series
In his first full assignment as India captain, Kohli led his team to a 5-0 ODI series victory over Zimbabwe during the 2013 visit. Over the following few years, he would see this same outcome twice more. In 2014, without MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli effectively led India to a 5-0 victory over Sri Lanka at home. In 2017, Sri Lanka suffered again another 5-0 loss, but this time it happened at home. In a series of four or more games, Kohli is still the first skipper in men’s ODI cricket to lead his team to three whitewashes.
Efficient double tons
Up until 2016, Kohli had played in 41 Test matches and had amassed 11 hundred, but he had only once gone over 150 (against Australia in Melbourne in 2014) and had been sent out seven times below 120. But he achieved an Indian record by turning seven of his 15 hundred into double hundreds between 2016 and 2019. In addition, Kohli made history by scoring double hundreds in four straight Test series, against the West Indies, New Zealand, England, and Bangladesh between 2016 and 2017.
Centuries while chasing 300+
Even though Kohli is three hundred short of Sachin Tendulkar’s record 49 hundreds in ODIs, he is still in a better position while chasing. Nine more than Tendulkar’s 17 in ODI chases, he currently has 26 hundred. Up to nine of Kohli’s chasing hundreds have occurred while India was attempting to reach objectives of 300 or more. Jason Roy, who has five such hundreds, is the closest competitor on this list, and the other four batters have four tonnes each in 300-run target chases.
Youngest debutant opener for India
At the age of 19 years and 287 days, Virat Kohli made his international debut in an ODI match against Sri Lanka in 2008. In the match, he began the innings, setting a record for the youngest Indian to do so in a men’s ODI. Parthiv Patel, Yuvraj Singh, and Vinod Kambli are the only three players younger than Kohli to have opened the batting for India in men’s ODIs. Only twice more in these 15 years have Kohli, who started in each of the five games of that series, moved back to the opening spot.
Master of big partnerships
In ODI cricket, Kohli has frequently been a part of lengthy partnerships. He is the record holder with 13 200-stand appearances. The most of any pair in the format, he has shared five of them with Rohit Sharma. No other player has participated in more than seven double-century stands, with Rohit coming in second with ten. Six partners—Gautam Gambhir (three), Virender Sehwag, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Kedar Jadhav, and Ishan Kishan—were involved in Kohli’s other eight double-hundred stands.
The incredible 0th ball wicket
Even before he delivered an actual ball in a T20I, Virat Kohli started to accumulate wickets. When he entered the game to bowl his first ball in the format in 2011, he got Kevin Pietersen stumped off a wide. He continues to be the only player in men’s international matches to take a wicket from his very first delivery in any format. Only three other men’s T20I innings have seen a bowler take a wicket before delivering their first legal ball: Graeme Swann’s match against Shoaib Malik in 2010, Sunil Narine’s match against Martin Guptill in 2012 and Shakib Al Hasan’s match against Lendl Simmons in 2014.
Huge success in Jamaica- Where it all started
At Sabina Park in 2011, Virat Kohli played in his first Test match immediately after helping India win the World Cup. Eight years later, at the same location, when India defeated West Indies by 257 runs, Kohli was named India’s most successful Test cricket skipper. Kohli outdid MS Dhoni’s 27 victories as India’s Test skipper with 28 victories. With 12 additional triumphs, Kohli finished with 40 Test victories, which ranks fourth among all captains.
Also Read: World Cup 2023: How does the schedule benefit India?
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