Indian cricket Virat Kohli is burning up the record books as he powers on to become one of the greatest batsmen in the game.
Kohli became the batsman to pile up 10,000 runs in one day international cricket when he hit a desultory single off spinner West Indian spinner Ashley Nurse.
He has averaged 48.78 runs in his 205 ODI innings – 44 innings quicker to reach the target than that other Indian legendary big hitter Sachin Tendulkar.
Kohli racked up his runs in a 10-year ODI career that started against Sri Lanka in August 2008.
Tendulkar still sits pretty in the annals of ODIs with the all-time run record of 18,426 amassed in his career.
Record breaking career
Behind him in the rankings sit Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara on 14,234, with Australia’s Ricky Ponting on 13,704.
Kohli has plenty of other records to fall back on.
He hit the fastest century for India in ODI – in just 52 balls, is the fastest in the world to reach 35 ODI centuries and is the fastest to smack 15,000 in test matches.
Kohli made his first class debut in 2006 and first represented India aged 19 years old.
Born in Delhi in 1988, Kohli is aged 30 and still has several years as a top-class player ahead, which will no doubt see more records broken.
“The way I approached the game changed that day. I just had one thing in my mind – that I have to play for my country and live that dream for my dad,” said Kohli.
Hitting tons of runs
His father died in 2006 from a heart attack after a short illness.
Throughout his career, Kohli has been a one-man run machine, piling up massive scores at every level and against opposition of all standards.
Kohli has a Test batting average of 54.57 with 6,331 runs from 73 matches that includes 24 centuries and 19 half centuries with a top score of 243.
His ODI record includes 37 centuries, while he has hit 48 half centuries. His top ODI score is 183 runs.
Kohli is married Bollywood star Anushka Sharma in Florence, Italy, in 2013.
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