Virat Kohli has become only the fourth batter in the history of one day international cricket to score 5000 runs in a particular country.
In elite company
Only Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting and Jacques Kallis have achieved the feat before him.
Virat Kohli made his debut for India in 2008 and is going strong. Although there has been a slight dip in his form of late, his overall numbers are fantastic.
Kohli has scored 12311 runs from 260 one day internationals with 43 centuries and 64 half centuries, going at an average of 58.07 and a strike rate of 92.92 which is second to none.
He has struck 1153 boundaries and 125 sixes in his one day international career till now and sits at the 6th spot in the list of the highest run getters of all time in one day internationals.
He is also the second highest run scorer for India in one day internationals only behind Sachin Tendulkar who is placed atop the all time list with 18426 runs.
Little Master's backing
Despite a slip in Kohli's form, batting legend Sunil Gavaskar is all praise for the former Indian captain.
"Kohli, when he was captain, showed that there were no effects of the burden of captaincy. He was reeling off hundreds just every other innings. So don't think captaincy was ever a burden on him," ex-Indian opener Gavaskar said. "As a captain what happens is that you are concerned about everybody else. It's just a natural thing, you are concerned about your bowlers' forms, maybe there is a slight niggle injury, as a batting unit maybe your No.4 or No.5 are not getting the runs, getting out badly."
"So you might be scoring runs yourselves as a captain but you are always concerned about everybody else in the team. That is where you can't focus on your batting. As not a captain, you can focus entirely on your batting. That is the biggest advantage that you can have. But now I think it's a question of him getting used to the fact that he is not calling the shots. As long as he is delivering the shots with the bat, nothing else is mattering.”
Not as bad as it seems It has been 3 years now since Kohli has scored a 100 in International Cricket. However, that is more to do with poor form in red ball cricket.
When it comes to both one day internationals and T20s, he has produced some scintillating knocks despite not being able to reach the three figure mark.
