New Delhi [India] : Virat Kohli, the star Indian batsman widely regarded as one of the greatest to ever wield a cricket bat, is set to celebrate his 35th birthday on Saturday.
From his early days, when he led India to a U19 World Cup victory in 2008 and made his international debut in the same year, Virat has consistently dominated headlines with his extraordinary run-scoring ability. Though his earliest admirers and observers had no doubts about his greatness, Virat has broken records, chased runs and won matches single-handedly at a frequency rarely seen before in world cricket.
Virat has represented India in 111 Tests, scoring 8,676 runs at an average of 49.29. He has scored 29 centuries and 29 fifties, with best score of 254*. He is India’s fifth-highest scorer in Tests. Sachin is the highest Test run-scorer with 15,921 runs.
Notably, Virat has notched the fourth-highest number of Test centuries for India and is among the top 10 worldwide.
The Delhi-born batter is India’s most successful Test captain ever. With 40 wins, 17 losses and 11 draws in 68 games, Virat boasts of an incredible resume as a captain. Under his captaincy, India earned five successive ICC World Test Championship maces, ending as the top-ranked side of the season for five successive years.
Under his partnership with head coach Ravi Shastri and bowling coach Bharat Arun, India managed to develop one of the most productive and fearsome Test pace attacks in history, featuring Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Siraj etc.
The aforementioned statistics and accomplishments make Virat one of the greatest ambassadors of red-ball cricket. While delving into the raw statistics, it becomes abundantly clear that Virat might just be the finest ODI batsman ever.
In just 288 ODIs, Virat has scored 13,525 runs at an average of 58.04, with 48 centuries and 70 tons in 276 innings. His best score is 183. He is the fourth-highest ODI run-getter and second-highest run-getter for India in 50-over format, with Sachin at top with 18,426 runs in 463 matches.
With his fitness and form going strong, Virat is chasing Sachin’s record of 49 ODI tons and 18,426 runs.
The ‘Chase-Master’ Virat in ODIs is a different beast in Blue. In 159 matches, he has scored 7,794 runs while chasing at an average of 65.49, with 27 centuries and 40 fifties.
During successful run-chases in ODIs, Virat has scored 5,786 runs at an average of 90.40 in 102 matches, with 23 centuries and 25 fifties in 96 innings.
He is also the fastest to achieve milestones of 8,000 to 13,000 ODI runs.
Virat has led India in 95 ODIs, winning 65, losing 27, one tied and two ending in no results.
In T20Is, Virat has scored 4,008 runs in 115 matches and 107 innings at an average of 52.73, with one century and 37 fifties. His best individual score is 122*.
He is the highest run-scorer in T20Is and has most number of ‘Man of the Match’ (15) and ‘Man of the Series’ (seven) awards in the format.
Virat has led India in 60 T20Is, winning 30, losing 16 and two each ending as ties and no results.
Overall in 514 international matches, Virat has scored 26,209 runs at an average of 54.03, with the best score of 254*. He has scored 78 centuries and 136 centuries in international cricket. He is the fourth-highest run-getter in international cricket and second-highest for India. Sachin is the highest run-scorer in international cricket with 34,357 runs in 664 matches.
Virat is a player that thrives on big stages. He is the only player to have scored 3,000 runs in ICC white-ball events.
In 33 Cricket World Cup matches, he has scored 1,472 runs at an average of 54.51, with three centuries and 10 fifties. He is the fourth-highest run-getter in the tournament history, with Sachin at top with 2,278 runs in 45 matches.
Virat is the highest run-getter in T20 World Cup, In 27 matches and 25 innings, Virat has scored 1,141 runs at an average of 81.50, with 14 fifties.
A massive stat of Virat’s prowess in T20I batting is that in nine successful run-chases at this tournament, Virat averages 518 and has seven fifties to his name. He has been dismissed only once in a successful T20 World Cup chase.
In ICC Champions Trophy, Virat has scored 529 runs in 12 innings across 13 matches at an average of 88.16, with best score of 96 and five fifties.
In 73 ICC event matches across 70 innings, Virat has scored 3,142 runs at an average of 66.85, with three centuries and 29 fifties.
Virat is also the part of Indian team which won the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup and 2013 ICC Champions Trophy.
The star batter wears the red and gold colours of Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League (IPL). With 7,263 runs in 237 matches at an average of 37.24, he is the highest run-scorer in IPL history. With seven centuries, he holds record of most IPL tons. His tally of 973 runs in 16 matches of IPL 2016, with four centuries and seven fifties at an average of 81.08 is the highest peak attained in T20s by an Indian.
He was also crowned the ICC Men’s Cricket of the Decade from 2011-2020 and has won two ICC Player of the Year awards, three ICC ODI Player of the Year awards and one Test Player of the Year award.
In 2018, he was also crowned with India’s biggest sporting honour, the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award.