Virat Kohli has played in international cricket for 15 years, and his fans are commemorating this momentous anniversary by praising his illustrious career for India. Kohli’s illustrious international career has seen him set a number of records thanks to his exceptional cricketing ability. After retiring, Sachin Tendulkar became the most productive Indian batter in international cricket.
When India visited Sri Lanka in 2008, Virat Kohli received his chance to play for his country in the opening One-Day International (ODI) in Dambulla. However, he had to fight for a few years to earn a spot on the Indian squad regularly. Eventually, in 2010, he succeeded in establishing his credentials and joining the team as a vital player. Let’s take a look at some of Kohli’s greatest accomplishments as we mark his 15th year playing international cricket.
Here are Virat Kohli five notable accomplishments in international cricket.
1. An international cricket player who won the Most Player of the Series Award
In all three of the sport’s formats, Virat Kohli has excelled for India. Since beginning his career in 2008, Virat Kohli has won numerous games for India, as attested to by his Player-of-the-Series (POTS) trophy haul. 20 POTS awards in various categories have so far been won by Kohli.
Sanath Jayasuriya and Sachin Tendulkar are ahead of him on the list of ODI POTS award winners with 16 trophies each. He has won the most POTS awards during T20 Internationals (T20Is), with seven trophies. He won the POTS Award for the 2014 T20 World Cup after scoring 319 runs to finish first in the competition.
He has three POTS victories for India in Tests. For the first time in eight years, Kohli guided the Indian team to a Test series victory over England in 2016. When playing the five-match Test series, Kohli amassed 655 runs in five Tests and won the POTS award for finishing as the competition’s top run-scorer.
2. Most 100s in 300-plus scores while chasing
As a chase master, Virat Kohli is also well-known, and his ODI batting statistics support this claim. Of Kohli’s 46 ODI hundreds, 26 came while India was on the offensive. Nine of these 26 tons—or deliveries—were made by Kohli as the Men in Blue were chasing 300+ scores.
In order to maintain their dreams of reaching the final of the 2012 Commonwealth Bank (CB) Series alive, India had to chase down 321 in 37 overs. In the crucial match, Kohli rose to the occasion and, together with Suresh Raina, led India to victory with an undefeated innings of 133 off 86. Due to his outstanding batting, Kohli also won Player of the Match.
Kohli assisted India in winning another game while chasing after a historic 18-day Hobart knock. at the Asia Cup 2012 encounter at Mirpur, he focused mainly on Pakistan this time and contributed his best ODI innings of 183 to enable India easily complete 330.
3. Fastest batter to notch up 12000 ODI runs
With 12898 runs in 275 ODIs, 46 hundreds, and 65 fifty-pluses, Kohli has dazzling ODI records. He is the fifth-highest run scorer in the format. Before his ODI career is up, he might beat luminaries like Sanath Jayasuriya, Ricky Ponting, and Kumara Sangakkara and finish his time in the format as the top run scorer.
During India’s December 2020 tour of Australia, Kohli made history by scoring 12000 ODI runs in the third ODI match against Australia at Canberra’s Manuka Oval. In order to hold this record, Kohli defeated Tendulkar. His 23rd run of the contest brought him to the milestone.
Tendulkar reached his milestone of 12,000 runs at the 2003 World Cup match against Pakistan and accomplished this accomplishment in 300 ODIs. While Kohli achieved this benchmark in the 242nd ODI and seized the record from the great to add another historic achievement to his credit.
4. Most matches as Test captain
In December 2014, Kohli was named India’s Test captain. In September 2015, under his direction, India won their first Test series in Sri Lanka. India’s aggressive brand of cricket in the longest format was retained under his captaincy, as the team defeated South Africa at home by a score of 3-0.
India won this Test series against the Proteas for the first time in 11 years. India defeated England in red-ball cricket after eight years, crushing them by a score of 4-0, and winning the series. When India toured Australia in 2018, Kohli’s greatest triumph as the team’s Test captain occurred.
India made history under the veteran’s captaincy in 2018, winning the Border-Gavaskar Trophy by a score of 2-1. It was India’s first-ever Test series victory in Australia. In 2022, Kohli resigned from the post and went on to captain India for the most games in the longest format (68 Tests).
5. The only player to pick up a wicket on zero ball
In his lengthy international career, Kohli has broken a lot of batting records. He has various records as a batter in cricket’s shortest format, including the highest batting average and highest run total in T20 Internationals. The seasoned Indian player has, however, also set a remarkable bowling record.
When India toured England in 2011, Kohli was given the opportunity to play for India’s white-ball squad. He didn’t score in Manchester’s lone T20I, but when given the chance to bowl, the Delhi-born player removed dangerous Kevin Pietersen off the crease to aid India in a comeback.
When he took the wicket on the zeroth delivery, it became a special wicket for him. While bowling for the first time in a T20I match, Kohli had Pietersen down the leg side by MS Dhoni. He became the first bowler to take a wicket on the first ball of a men’s international match when the ball was ruled wide by the umpires.
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