5 lesser known records Virat Kohli created in Indian colours

Virat Kohli’s consistency across all formats is unmatchable for any player as he scores at a similar rate in all three International formats. At the age of 31, Virat has bagged numerous batting records, a lot of them, especially in the last three years.

From being a key player of the ODI team in starting stages of his career, Kohli emerged as India’s best batsman and also the captain in all formats. Earlier this year, Kohli became India’s most successful Test skipper and is set for bigger records before turning 32.

Here are the five lesser-known records that Virat Kohli has created while playing for India:

5. Fastest fifty in Youth Test cricket:

Virat Kohli set a record for the fastest ODI century by an Indian in 2013 against Australia but in 2007, Kohli recorded the fastest recorded fifty in Youth Test history by any player in the World. During the Test against Sri Lanka, Virat raced to fifty in only 32 balls in the game hosted by Kandy. His knock ensured India accelerated in the last session on the first day for an early declaration.

Kohli shared an unbeaten 76-run stand in only 4.4 overs with Saurabh Tiwary (36* off 11 balls) for the 4th wicket as India reached 491/3 in 83 overs after electing to bat first. Virat remained unbeaten on 94 in only 51 balls before skipper Tanmay Srivastava declared the innings to give Sri Lanka a chance to bat for a few overs before the stumps.

If not for the declaration, Kohli would have owned the record for fastest known Test ton in Youth cricket. The record is held by Moeen Ali who completed his ton in only 56 balls during a Youth Test in 2005 also against the Lankans. Earlier in 2017, India’s Riyan Parag came close to Kohli’s record of fastest Youth Test fifty as he got a 33-ball fifty against England before he got dismissed.

4. Fewest days for ‘n’ double centuries:

Virat Kohli had to wait for raising his maiden double century in Test cricket, also his first in the first-class cricket. But once he got his first double, Kohli got a few more without taking much time. His frequency of scoring double tons in the longer format since then became unmatchable even surpassing the great Sir Donald Bradman in terms of days.

Virat soon became the first player with double centuries in four consecutive series and had six Test 200s in space of 18 months. Kohli took only 499 days between his 1st and 6th double ton in the Test format; the fewest by any player breaking Bradman’s record of scoring in space of 581 days. Kohli’s first five 200s came in space of 492 days which is also a record.

Earlier in October this year, Virat Kohli smashed the Indian record 7th double century in Test cricket. Kohli, in the process, became the first Indian captain to score 250+ in a Test inning. Interestingly, Virat got that feat in his 50th Test match as Indian skipper. Kohli took only 1176 days between his 1st and 7th Test double; the shortest span in which any player has had as many 200s in this format.

3. 995 runs across 10 ODI innings:

In a span of 13 months across 2017 and 2018, Virat Kohli recorded the greatest ever run for a batsman in ODI history. In 15 ODI innings starting from the 2017 home ODI series against New Zealand, Kohli scored 1416 runs at an average of 128.72 with help of 8 hundreds and three fifties. This streak included two 150+ scores and only one score under 30.

His numbers become even better starting from the 3rd ODI vs South Africa in February to 3rd ODI vs West Indies in October last year. In the 10 ODI matches during this period, Kohli struck three hundreds including two 150+ scores. He aggregated a record 995 runs at an average of 142.14 and also had three scores of 70.

The 995 runs are by far the most runs scored by any player in 10 consecutive ODI innings. In fact, the 15 innings starting from 2017 NZ series to 3rd ODI against West Indies in 2018 included top five streaks of most runs scored by any player in ten consecutive ODI innings. Any ten consecutive innings in this span by Virat aggregate more than 860 runs.

2. 100% win record in Youth ODIs:

Everyone is aware of Virat Kohli’s success as captain in the 2008 Under-19 World Cup held in Malaysia. Indian team won the tournament undefeated as they were victorious in all three league matches before defeating England in the quarters, New Zealand in the semis and South Africa in the grand finale.

It wasn’t the only time Kohli led the Indian team in the 50-overs cricket at the Under-19 level. At the start of 2008, India toured South Africa for a Tri-Nation series involving Bangladesh as the 3rd team. The Kohli-led Indian team won all the four matches in the round-robin phase to join Bangladesh in the final. India won the tournament as they recorded a huge 137-run win in the final.

After clinching the World Cup triumph, Virat Kohli’s captaincy career in the Youth ODI cricket came to an end. Indian team won all the 11 matches he captained in making him the only captain in Youth ODI history to win 10+ games at 100% win percentage. Later, Prithvi Shaw leveled Kohli leading the Indian team to win in all the 11 matches.

1. The highest percentage of team’s runs:

Virat Kohli’s dominance across formats is usually shown in the amount of the Indian team runs he scores. Kohli, so far, has scored 11520 runs in the ODI cricket at an average of 60.31; higher average than any other player with 10000 runs in the format. Indian team aggregated 59184 runs in the 239 matches he has played.

Kohli’s ODI runs account for 19.46% of team’s runs; the highest percentage of team’s runs scored by any player in ODI cricket. (Min: 100 matches) Virat holds the same record in the T20I format as his 2450 runs are equal to 22.82 % of runs scored by the Indian team in the 72 matches he played. Only three other players with 50+ appearances in Men’s T20I cricket has scored more than 20% of team’s tally.

Till date, Kohli has amassed 21036 runs in International cricket from the 393 matches he played. His runs are equivalent to 18.38 % of the Indian team’s runs in the matches he played. Indian team aggregated 114480 runs in the 393 matches that Kohli has featured in. As many as 195 players have scored 5000+ runs having played 100+ matches but none had a better percentage than Kohli.