On October 19, Virat Kohli became the fastest hitter in cricket history to reach 26,000 international runs, breaking the record held by Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar. Before the Bangladesh game, Kohli had amassed 25,923 runs from 566 innings. He accomplished this milestone with a magnificent six during the World Cup match in Pune.
Virat Kohli is now the fourth-highest run-scorer in world cricket. With 78 centuries and 134 half-centuries, his total runs in all formats stand at 26,026 in 567 innings. There are just three players ahead of him in terms of scoring runs: Ricky Ponting (27,483), Kumara Sangakkara (28,016) and Sachin Tendulkar (34,357). Kohli got past Mahela Jayawardene (25,957), who now stands at number 5 in the list of the highest run-scorers in cricket.
In ODI World Cups, Virat Kohli has scored 1,289 runs so far in 30 matches. He has scored 3 centuries so far while his World Cup batting average stands at 53.70.
In 2011, on his World Cup debut, Kohli scored an unbeaten 100 against Bangladesh. Interestingly, his most recent WC century (on October 19, 2023), has also come against Bangladesh. In 2015, he scored another century against Pakistan in Adelaide.
Controversy around Virat Kohli’s 48th century
King Kohli’s century against Bangladesh was marred with controversy. Umpire Richard Kettleborough is the subject of a lot of discussion following his decision not to award a Wide Ball. With Virat Kohli at 97 and Nasum Ahmed bowling, India needed 2 runs to win. A delivery that goes down the leg side in limited-overs cricket is instantly referred to as a wide ball. However, Kettleborough did not call it a Wide Ball.
This is Virat Kohli’s fourth World Cup. He is the only player, except R Ashwin, who was a part of India’s world champion team in 2011.
