“He was beautiful. He was the point of difference. He has always been the point of difference.” While Peter Drury may have said these lines for the iconic Lionel Messi, it also remains true for Indian cricket’s batting genius Virat Kohli, who has been the focal point of India’s success over the past dozen or so years.
And Virat Kohli almost always tends to bring out his best against India’s fiercest rivals, the arch-enemies, the neighbor Pakistan. He did it again on Monday, having started his innings on Sunday, in the Super 4 round match in the ongoing Asia Cup 2023 in Colombo.
India were given a solid platform by openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill with their 121-run opening stand, but both openers got out in a space of two overs.
From thereon, Virat Kohli along with the comeback man KL Rahul initially rebuilt the innings with their cautious, steady approach before both went hammer and tongs against the Pakistani bowlers. KL Rahul notched up his 6th ODI century, while Kohli his 47th in ODIs, his 4th consecutive ODI century in Colombo, and overall his 3rd ODI ton against Pakistan.
Virat Kohli and KL Rahul shared a massive partnership of 233* runs in 194 balls, taking India’s total to 356/2.
Virat Kohli broke a spree of records. Here are the 5 biggest of them:
13,000 runs milestone
Virat Kohli became only the 5th batsman to reach 13,000 ODI runs.
Above him in the list are:
18426 – Sachin Tendulkar
14234 – Kumar Sangakkara
13704 – Ricky Ponting
13430 – Sanath Jayasuriya
Fastest to 13000 ODI runs
He is the fastest to do so – in 267 innings, overtaking Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 321 innings to reach 13000 ODI runs.
Fewest innings to 13000 ODI runs:
267 – Virat Kohli
321 – Sachin Tendulkar
341 – Ricky Ponting
363 – Kumar Sangakkara
Only 2 away from Master’s ODI centuries record
Kohli now has 47 ODI hundreds in 267 innings, while the leader of this tally, Sachin Tendulkar, notched up 49 ODI hundreds in 452 innings.
It feels certain that Virat Kohli will break Tendulkar’s 49 ODI centuries record, and would be the first one to 50 ODI tons. It would be special if he does it in the upcoming World Cup 2023 at home.
Kohli-KL stand wallop Pakistan
Kohli and KL Rahul blasted Pakistan to all parts of the boundary and created the record for the highest partnership by India against Pakistan.
Highest partnership for India vs Pakistan in ODIs:
233* – V Kohli & KL Rahul, Colombo (RPS), today (3rd wkt)
231 – NS Sidhu & SR Tendulkar, Sharjah, 1996 (2nd wkt)
210 – S Dhawan & R Sharma, Dubai (DSc), 2018 (1st wkt)
201 – Rahul Dravid & V Sehwag, Kochi, 2005 (3rd wkt)
Most 100s in ODI Asia Cup:
This Asia Cup 2023 is likely to be the last ODI Asia Cup of Virat Kohli. He now has the second-most number of centuries in the ODI Asia Cup, but is 2 behind Jayasuriya’s tally of 6 hundreds in the continental competition in the 50-over format.
India have at least two more Super 4 games left to play, and are likely to reach the final as well. Kohli has an opportunity to equal, and even overtake Jayasuriya.
Most hundreds in ODI Asia Cup:
6 – Sanath Jayasuriya
4 – Virat Kohli
4 – Kumar Sangakkara
3 – Shoaib Malik
