Kohli reaches landmark 20k

Virat Kohli on Thursday became the fastest batsman to reach 20,000 international runs as he anchored India’s innings against the West Indies in the World Cup match in Manchester.

Kohli reached the landmark in his 417th innings with a single off West Indies skipper Jason Holder -- India’s Sachin Tendulkar and Caribbean batsman Brian Lara both required 453 international innings to reach the landmark.

Before the clash, Kohli needed just 37 runs to overhaul the record of legendary cricketers Tendulkar and Lara and the current India captain went past the score easily after India won the toss and opted to bat first in their sixth World Cup encounter.

Kohli already holds the record for the fastest 10,000 runs in one-day internationals and is closing in on Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 49 ODI centuries.

The third on the list is former Australia World Cup winning captain Ricky Ponting, who had taken 468 innings to reach this milestone.

Overall, Virat Kohli became the 12th batsman and 3rd Indian after Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid to reach 20,000 international runs.

While Tendulkar finished with 34,357 runs international runs, Dravid accumulated 24,208 runs in an illustrious international career.

Kohli also has 41 ODI hundreds, second only to Sachin Tendulkar’s 49 hundreds in the 50-over format.

Virat Kohli has been in phenomenal form since 2016.

In the 2019 World Cup, Kohli has been in solid form. After falling cheaply against South Africa, he scored 82 against Australia, 77 against Pakistan, 67 against Afghanistan and 72 against West Indies.