Stats: Virat Kohli becomes the fastest batsman to 20,000 international runs

Virat Kohli walked into the ICC World Cup 2019 as the No.1 ranked ODI batsman and expectations of over a billion fans. It was he and his batting that separated the Indian team from all other competitors in the tournament. His performance has been the key for the team to do well across formats for a few years now. Team India having won four of their first five matches with one washout sit in a comfortable position to qualify for the semis. The game against the West Indies was not just expected to bring them a win but also a massive milestone of 20,000 international runs for Kohli.

He entered the match needing just 37 runs to get past 20,000 runs across all three formats of the game and got there in a matter of time. It took him 376 innings and 417 matches to attain this height in his career becoming only the third Indian after Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid to have done so. The Delhi lad has been in a superlative form so far in the tournament, though he hasn’t tonked the big centuries he is known for, Kohli has four half centuries and has contributed 311 runs to the team’s cause.

Virat Kohli beats the likes of Lara, Tendulkar and Ponting to 20,000-run mark

Earlier in the World Cup, Virat got past the 11,000-run mark in ODI cricket – becoming not just the fastest but also the youngest batsman to get as many runs. So far, he has played 231 ODI matches (excluding the ongoing game against West Indies), 77 Tests and 67 T20Is. From those matches, he has 11,087 runs, 6613 runs, and 2263 runs respectively in the three formats.

He has an amazing conversion rate and most of his fifties convert into hundred. At 30, he already has 25 Test and 41 ODI centuries to his name which places him just behind Sachin Tendulkar in the list of hundreds.

As far as the 20k mark is concerned he beat the legends like Brian Lara, who reached the 20,000 international runs in 372 matches and 453 innings. Sachin Tendulkar (402 matches, 453 innings), Ricky Ponting (399 matches, 464 innings), AB de Villiers (420 matches, 483 innings) and Jacques Kallis (417 matches, 491 innings) to become the fastest player to score that many runs.

Another distinction for the Indian skipper is that he is the only batsman to have scored 20,000 runs and to have maintained an average of 50.

Here is the list of batsmen fastest to 20,000 runs in international cricket:

(Stats as on June 27, 2019)