Stats: Virat Kohli becomes the fastest batsman to reach 21000 international runs

Indian captain and ace batsman Virat Kohli pummeled the South Africa bowling unit into submission on the second day of the second Test being played at the MCA Stadium in Pune. King Kohli, as he is affectionately called, created a plethora of records in his amazing innings, where he scored his 7th double ton for the Indian team.

Kohli declared India’s innings on 601/5 after the fall of Ravindra Jadeja’s wicket, as the left-hander was caught for 91 runs, having added 225 runs with Kohli for the fifth wicket. Kohli himself was on 254, which was his highest score in Tests. This was his 26th Test ton and 19th as Indian skipper and equaled the record of Australia’s Ricky Ponting. This score is also the highest by any batsman in the ongoing ICC Test championship.

However, the biggest record that Kohli broke during his innings was that he became the fastest batsman to 21,000 runs in international cricket. He completed 7,000 runs in Tests in this innings and has more than 11,000 in ODIs to go with over 2500 runs in T20Is. Kohli reached this feat of 21,000 international runs in 392 matches and 435 innings.

Previous record-holder Sachin Tendulkar reached the milestone in 418 matches and 473 innings. Tendulkar already holds the record for most Tests (200), most Test runs (15,921), and most centuries (51). Brian Lara from West Indies comes next in the list with him having taken 396 matches and 485 runs to reach 21,000 runs in international cricket, meanwhile, Ricky Ponting of Australia took 421 matches and 489 innings to reach the same feat.

Jacques Kallis of South Africa finishes off the top 5 with 437 matches and 514 innings to reach the 21,000-run milestone, being the slowest to get there. Talking about Kohli’s feat, he reached 7,000 Test runs in 138th inning of his 81st match. This 7th double ton of his took him past the record of Sachin Tendulkar’s 6 scores of 200 and more.

This is also his 50th Test match as captain of the Indian team and he already has more wins in the format than any other Indian skipper. The right-hander had been a bit lull after the World Cup, but this inning has brought him right into the upper echelon of Test cricket batting.

Fastest to 21000 runs by a player in international cricket

(Stats updated till 11th October 2019)