Asia Cup: Virat Kohli becomes fifth player to reach 13,000 ODI runs, breaks Sachin Tendulkar’s record

COLOMBO —  During his outstanding knock of 122 not out off just 94 balls against Pakistan in the Super Four stage of the Asia Cup at the R. Premadasa Stadium, talismanic India batter Virat Kohli completed 13,000 ODI runs, becoming the fifth player to reach the landmark in men’s ODIs.

Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Sanath Jayasuriya and Mahela Jayawardene are the others before Kohli to reach the milestone. While Tendulkar took 321 innings to get to the mark, Kohli has reached the same in 267 innings, becoming the quickest to the milestone and breaking the legendary batter’s record.

Ponting (341) and Sangakkara (363) took over 300 innings too while Jayasuriya reached the mark in 416 innings. Kohli, who also completed 1000 runs in international cricket this year, is also the only one among the five to average over 50. With 47 ODI hundreds, Kohli is also just two away from equalling Tendulkar’s record tally of ODI tons.

Kohli, the No.3 batter, resumed from his score of seven overnight on the reserve day and survived an early review for caught behind off Naseem Shah’s over. He looked in pristine touch thereafter, combining with a proactive KL Rahul to build over India’s good start on Sunday.

Kohli took 55 balls to get to his half-century but took only 29 more balls to get to his 47th ODI hundred. Rahul too, meanwhile, completed his ton on his return to international cricket to give India a strong total in Colombo.

The Rahul-Kohli stand of 233 runs for the third wicket is also the highest partnership by any Indian pair in the history of the team’s participation in the Asia Cup, as the side posted 356/2, also its highest score against Pakistan in ODIs.

Also read: Asia Cup: Kohli, Rahul slam centuries as India post mammoth 356/2 against Pakistan