On Thursday, July 20, 2023, Virat Kohli will reach a new milestone by just stepping on the field. When the toss concludes and Virat Kohli is named in the team sheet for the 2nd India vs West Indies Test match, in Trinidad, Virat Kohli will play in his 500th international match for India.
Virat Kohli made his ODI debut in 2008, soon after leading India to the Under-19 World Cup trophy. He got to make his T20I debut in 2010 and a year later he donned the whites for the first time for India.
Over the past 15 years, he’s shown incredible consistency in all three formats – that has been the hallmark of his career. He may not have been the most talented batsman of his generation, but his work ethic and efforts are second to none – that has helped him climb in his career, to becoming one of the greatest batsmen in the history of the game, and one of the biggest sporting superstars of all-time.
Here are 5 big records of Virat Kohli as he sets to feature in his 500th international match:
4th Indian to 500 international matches
Virat Kohli is set to become only the 4th Indian to feature in 500 international matches. Ahead of him are Sachin Tendulkar (664), MS Dhoni (535), and Rahul Dravid (504).
Hailing Kohli, Rahul Dravid, now the head coach, put it down to Kohli’s work ethic behind the scenes.
“He’s a real inspiration to so many players within this team without a doubt, to so many boys and girls in India,” Dravid said. “His numbers and stats speak for itself, his performances – it’s all there in the book. But I think for me what’s great to see first hand is the effort and work he puts behind the scenes when no one’s watching. That’s reflecting in the fact that he’s going to be playing 500 game.”
Second highest number of international centuries
Kohli has shown remarkable abilities to pile up three-figure scores throughout his career, with a brief half in 2020-2022 where the wait for the 70th made everyone glum. He has 75 international centuries, a tally bettered by only Sachin Tendulkar, who has 100 hundreds. Ponting is third with 71. Among the current active players, the next best is Joe Root with 46 centuries.
His 46 ODI centuries tally is only behind Tendulkar’s 49 in the format.
Best average among top 10 international run-scorers
Virat Kohli has 25461 international runs at an average of 53.48. His is the best average, and the only batsman with an average of over 50, among the top 10 international run-scorers.
Among the top 10 international run-getters, the second-best average is of Kallis, 49.1, followed by Tendulkar, 48.52.
The ODI chase master
Virat Kohli has built a reputation for being a chase master in white-ball cricket. In ODI run-chases, Kohli has 7384 runs at a terrific average of 64; Tendulkar has most runs in ODI chases, 8720, but his average of 42 is well behind Kohli’s.
That average of Kohli further swells to a whopping 89 in successful ODI run-chases where he has 22 centuries, the most of all-time.
In T20Is, he has an astounding average of 90 in successful run-chases.
Most double hundreds in Test career
Kohli has 7 Test double hundreds; only three batsmen have more: Bradman (12), Sangakkara (11), and Lara (9).
Further, Kohli is joint-second on the list of most Test centuries in a series: he hit 4 centuries on the 2014/15 Test tour of Australia; there are many other batters who have hit 4 Test centuries in a single series, but only one – Clyde Walcott – has hit 5.
