Stats: Most runs for India in ODI cricket

In the ongoing ODI series between India and South Africa, where batsmen from both the teams are struggling to meet bat with ball, there’s one guy who is shattering records with ease as scoring runs seem to become his supper for the day. Virat Kohli’s appetite for runs and that too when chips are down is what sets him apart from the rest, his abilities to take on the best in the world and to perform in every demanding situation forces cricket pundits to rewrite the coaching manuals.

Carrying his good form from the recently concluded Test series, Indian skipper is going all guns blazing against the Proteas who can boast about being probably one of the best attacks in the limited overs format as he has already mustered 393 runs in four innings that features two centuries and a fifty with more than a ‘Bradman’- average of 196.50. With two ODIs still to go, fireworks from the Maestro’s bat are known to be expected.

Fifth highest run-getter for India

In his latest exploits with the bat in the Pink ODI where he missed yet another century by 25 runs, the modern master has once again entered the record books. In his knock of 75 runs at Johannesburg, Kohli took his tally of runs to 9423 and in doing so he became India’s fifth highest run-getter in ODI cricket. He went past the great former India skipper Mhd. Azharuddin who had 9378 runs in 334 matches that he represented in International cricket.

Kohli is now behind only a few Indian greats that feature above him with the Master Blaster, Sachin Tendulkar leading the charts with 18,426 runs, followed by ‘Dada’, Sourav Ganguly with 11,221 runs and ‘the wall’ Rahul Dravid with 10,768 runs. Fourth in the list is Kohli’s former captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni with 9,954 runs who is just 46 short of 10,000 run mark.

Still a long way to go

The beauty with Virat is the time that he has taken in registering himself in this elite list of run-getters. He has reached this feat in just 198 innings with others taking in excess of 200 innings. The Indian skipper is on a roll at present and surely has age by his side and if fitness permits, surpassing the Master Blaster won’t be a daunting task for the man in form.

With 34 ODI tons already against his name in less than 200 innings, he is just 15 shy of the record centuries in ODI cricket and even if he goes on to play for next five years, the record set by the great man is certainly in danger.

For more cricket stats follow CricTracker.com