LONDON: Asserting his credentials as the best batsman of his generation, Indian skipper Virat Kohli became the fastest cricketer to 20,000 international runs during his innings against West Indies in Match 34 of ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 at Old Trafford Cricket Ground, Manchester on Thursday.
Kohli achieved the feat in his 417th innings, when he reached the score of 37. The record for the fastest 20,000 international runs in cricket was earlier jointly held by Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara, who reached the landmark in their 453rd innings, respectively.
Apart from his 11,100 ODI runs, he has 6613 in Tests and 2263 in T20I. He has played in 131 Tests, 224* ODIs and 62 T20Is.
The 30-year-old has been in good nick in the tournament, scoring three half-centuries - 82 against Australia, 77 against Pakistan and 67 against Afghanistan - but is yet to reach the triple-figure mark. By reaching 20,000 international runs, Kohli also becomes the 12th batsman overall to reach the landmark and only the third Indian, after Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid.
And if Kohli can add another 15 runs to his tally he will surpass close friend AB de Villiers in the list of most international runs. De Villiers, retired from international cricket, has 20014 international runs to his name in 484 innings. The tally for most international runs is led by Tendulkar with 34357 runs in 782 innings, followed by Kumar Sangakkara (28016 runs in 666 innings) and Ricky Ponting (27483 in 668 innings).
Among active cricketers, Kohli is the leading run-getter across all three formats combined, followed by Chris Gayle of West Indies (19186 runs in 524 innings) and Hashim Amla of South Africa (18592 runs in 436 innings).
Before the World Cup, Kohli was not at his usual best in the Indian Premier League. While he did score 328 runs in the 14 matches for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), it was not the kind of performance which one associates with Kohli.
