Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli celebrated his 38th birthday on November 5, reflecting on a distinguished career characterised by numerous records and exceptional performances across all formats of the game.
Beginning his journey with promising performances in domestic and age-group cricket, Kohli amassed significant runs in tournaments such as the 2006-07 Ranji Trophy with 257 runs at an average of 36.71, and dominated the 2008-09 Vijay Hazare Trophy by scoring 534 runs at an average of 89.00, including four centuries.
Stay connected
Make The News Mill your preferred source
See more TNM stories when you search for news on Google.
Internationally, Kohli’s achievements span youth levels to senior formats. In 40 youth matches, he scored 1,910 runs including four centuries and twelve fifties. His Test career features 123 matches with 9,230 runs at an average of 46.85, making him India’s fourth-highest Test run-scorer. He holds the record for the most double centuries by an Indian captain, with seven, and has recorded 40 Test wins as captain, the highest for India.
As a captain, he scored 5,864 Test runs across 68 matches, with an average of 54.8 including 20 centuries. Kohli also boasts vital home success with a batting average of 70.02 in 30 Tests, alongside 10 centuries and six fifties.
In One Day Internationals (ODIs), Kohli ranks as the world’s second-highest run-getter, accumulating 15,183 runs at an average of 58.84 over 318 matches. He leads in runs scored while chasing with 8,741 runs at an average of 66.21, including 30 centuries and 46 fifties. He has also scored the most runs in successful chases in ODIs, 6,477, with an average of 89.95, including 25 centuries and 30 fifties.
Kohli maintains an average of over 50 in nine of the ten countries he has played ODIs, with Sri Lanka being the exception. He holds the record for the highest number of ODI runs at a single venue without being dismissed—338 runs at Greenfield International Stadium, Kerala.
His T20 career includes 430 matches with 14,218 runs at an average of 42.44, including 10 centuries and 110 fifties. In T20 Internationals, he has scored 4,188 runs with a century and 38 fifties, contributing to eight wins where he remained unbeaten in T20 World Cups.
Kohli also holds notable IPL records, such as the fastest T20 fifty (21 balls) against West Indies in Mumbai and the fastest T20 century (47 balls) against Punjab Kings in 2016. From 2023 to 2026, he is the only batsman to score over 600 runs in four consecutive IPL seasons.
Across all international cricket formats, Kohli has scored 28,601 runs in 566 matches at an average of 52.86. He uniquely holds a 50-plus batting average across the top 20 run-getters in the history of international cricket. Kohli scored 20,960 international runs during the 2010s, with 69 centuries and 98 fifties, making him the only cricketer to surpass 20,000 runs in a single decade.
He is the most decorated player in terms of ICC awards, winning ten, including three ‘Player of the Tournament’ awards across the 2014 and 2016 T20 World Cups and the 2023 ODI World Cup. Kohli is the only cricketer to have won a 50-over World Cup, a T20 World Cup, the Champions Trophy, the ICC Test Championship Mace, and the IPL.
His prolific run-scoring is marked by records such as scoring 1,297 runs at Bangladesh’s Sher-e-Bangla Stadium at an average of 68.26, with four centuries and eight fifties in 28 matches. He also holds the record for the most centuries by a visiting batsman in Australia, with seven in Tests and five in ODIs.
Looking ahead, Kohli aims to compete in the 2027 50-over World Cup and pursue the 100-century milestone set by his idol Sachin Tendulkar, while continuing to seek IPL success. His career stands as a testament to his exceptional skills and resilience as an elite-level cricketer in India’s cricket-obsessed landscape.
Leave a Reply