5 ODI records which will be difficult to break for Virat Kohli

At just 30 years of age, Virat Kohli has broken several records in ODI cricket. He has been an absolute beast in the 50-over format over the last three years. The Indian skipper is a nemesis to the opposition bowlers and hardly commits a mistake. Also, the legendary cricketer is now a part of the elite group of players who occupy the top ten spots in the all-time highest run-getters. Virat Kohli scored a major chunk of in the last three years starting from 2016. In this phase, no other batsmen managed to come anywhere close to the chase master. In just 55 games, King Kohli scored 3,642 runs at an average of 89 and a strike rate of 100. He smashed 16 centuries, 14 half-centuries and was out for a duck on two occasions. He remained unbeaten in 14 out of these 55 innings. Yet, despite this wonderful run, Kohli might still fail to break some of the significant ODI records. Here are five such ODI records that Virat Kohli will not be able to break in his career. 1. Rohit Sharma’s 264 runs in an innings Virat Kohli. (Photo Source: Twitter) If there ever has to be a man who can break Rohit Sharma’s 264 runs in an innings, it can be only him. It is a highly improbable equation to score more than 264 runs in a 50-over game. Rohit would consider himself fortunate to have got that mammoth score and it could well stay that way for many more years to come. Virat Kohli isn’t one of those batsmen who are capable of going after the bowlers every single ball and hit those big shots to perfection. He is someone who relies extensively on rotating the strike and likes taking the risks only as the innings comes to an end. Despite all that he’ll be able to achieve in his career, 264 is a number that will still elude him. 2. Sachin Tendulkar’s 18,426 ODI runs Virat Kohli. (Photo Source: Twitter) Sachin Tendulkar is one of those few batsmen who has maintained the same level of consistency throughout his career. When we split Sachin’s career into different phases, he had a slow start to his career. Between 1989 and 1993, he played 65 matches and scored 1679 runs at an average of 31. Till this point in his career, he never hit a single ODI century. Then, he experienced one of his best phases between 1994 and 1999, he scored 6,892 runs at an average of 47.20 in 164 matches. He smashed 24 out his 49 ODI centuries in this period. Batsmen usually slow down once they’re past this purple patch in their career. Fortunately, though, Sachin had age on his side and was, therefore, able to maintain the consistency. Between 2000 and 2006, Sachin scored 5,966 runs at an average of 46 and registered only 16 centuries in this while. Given his legendary status, he was able to stretch his career a long way and continued to play till 2012. The last six years of his career witnessed a significant slowdown. Even though the average was right up there at 48, he scored only 3889 runs in 89 matches and could only score 9 centuries. These numbers see a slight decline if only the last two years of his ODI career are considered. In 2011 and 2012, Sachin scored 828 runs at an average of 39. Not the case with other legendary players Many legendary players’ careers took a dip as they reached the twilight. Ricky Ponting, for instance, scored 2,591 runs at an average of 38 between 2009 and 2012 in 75 matches. Players like Sanath Jayasuriya, Jacques Kallis, Brian Lara, Rahul Dravid, Inzamam-ul-Haq struggled towards the end of their careers. Even though the numbers were there, they do not reveal the complete story. These cricketers turned out to be a burden for their teams and put additional pressure on the other players with the only exception being Kumar Sangakkara. If fitness is the criteria for great performances, then MS Dhoni might have been in great touch at this point in his career. Slowing down with age is something that is inevitable and Kohli could be no different. Let us take an ideal scenario that he scores 1,000 runs in ODIs every year for the next five years. That should take him to about 15,000 runs given that he remains injury free and at the top of his game. Even in the worst of cases, he should be easily able to get to 14,000 ODI runs in the next five years. But, he will still have to score about 3,500 runs more after he’s crossed 35. Even the great Tendulkar was able to score only 3889 runs in the last six years of his career. Hence, it wouldn’t be an easy task for Virat to surpass Sachin’s 18,426 ODI runs record. 3. Most hundreds in consecutive innings Virat Kohli. (Photo Source: Twitter) This unique record is held by the Sri Lankan great Kumar Sangakkara when he got hundreds in four consecutive games during the World Cup 2015. The left-hander started off with a century against Bangladesh. He then followed it up by reaching the triple figures against Australia and England. The final century came against Scotland in Hobart as he broke the joint record of Zaheer Abbas, Saeed Anwar, Herschelle Gibbs, AB de Villiers, Quinton de Kock and Ross Taylor. After Sangakkara created this record, three players including Virat Kohli, Babar Azam and Jonny Bairstow got close. But, they failed to go past three consecutive centuries. The 30-year-old Kohli registered three consecutive centuries against Windies recently. To break Kumar’s record, Virat will have to score five consecutive centuries which yet again seems improbable. 4. Fastest ODI hundred Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. (Photo Source: Twitter) With an unbeaten hundred in 52 balls against Australia in Jaipur, Virat Kohli holds the record for the fastest century by an Indian. However, he is miles away from the other players in this list of fastest ODI hundreds. His 52-ball 100 stands 12th on the list and former South African cricketer AB de Villiers is the proud holder of this record. Mr 360 got to a century in just 31 balls against Windies in 2015 and it just seems impossible to break this one. Virat Kohli is never one of those cricketers who goes bonkers after the bowlers. There is a typical approach to his building his innings and that will surely not help his score a century at a strike rate of 300. 5. The highest score by a captain in ODIs Virat Kohli. (Photo Source: Twitter) There are three Indians out of the top five who registered the highest score in an innings by a captain in ODIs. Former Indian opener Virender Sehwag tops the list with an unbeaten 219 against the Windies. He is followed by Rohit Sharma who missed out on breaking this record by a whisker. Rohit remained unbeaten on 208 when he led the side against Sri Lanka in 2017. Sanath Jayasuriya is next with 189 runs followed by Sachin Tendulkar (186*). Sir Viv Richards is fifth with 181 runs. Virat Kohli features on this list with scores of 160* against South Africa and 157* against Windies in 2018. But, he doesn’t find himself a place even in the top ten. Even though he might get to break into the top ten, breaking Sehwag’s record will be very tough. (Note: All the stats updated till 27 January 2019) Get the latest Cricket News and updates, Match Predictions, Fantasy Cricket Tips and lots more on CricTracker.com.

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5 ODI records which will be difficult to break for Virat Kohli

Here are five such ODI records that Virat Kohli will not be able to break in his career.

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