Virat Kohli has become the fastest batsman, both in terms of career-span and batting innings, to join the elite 10,000 runs club in ODI cricket today, i.e. Wednesday, 24th October against West Indies in Vizag.
Kohli reached the magic number – 81 in 91 deliveries and looks set to score his 37th hundred.
Kohli has been Bradmanesque in ODI cricket in the last few years. His numbers and achievements are mind-boggling. Here are some statistical milestones he has created in his 10 years in ODI cricket.
– Kohli reached the 10,000-Club in just his 205th ODI innings becoming the fastest batsman (in terms of batting innings) to do so. Tendulkar took 259, Ganguly 263 and Ponting 266.
– Kohli reached the 10,000-Club in 10 years and 67 Days from his ODI debut. This is the shortest time taken – in terms of Career Span – by any batsman to reach the milestone.
Rahul Dravid was the fastest in terms of Career Span (10 years, 317 Days) till today.
– Kohli’s strike rate of 92.51 is also the highest amongst all batsmen in the 10,000-Club.
– At 29 years, 353 days, Kohli becomes the second-youngest batsman (in terms of age) after Sachin Tendulkar (27 years, 342 days) in ODI cricket history to aggregate 10,000 runs. Ponting reached the milestone at 32 years, 95 days, Ganguly at 33 years, 25 days and Kallis at 33 years, 99 days.
Kohli is also the second batsman (after Tendulkar) to reach the milestone before turning 30.
– Kohli has made it to the 10,000 club in 205 innings.
Let us have a look at all batsmen in the 10,000-Club after 205 innings:
Note: Kohli unbeaten on 81 when numbers updated
There is a startling gap of 1789 runs between Kohli and the second-highest batsman on run aggregate after 205 ODI innings – Ganguly.
There is a difference of 6 runs per dismissal between Kohli’s batting average and Dhoni’s (second-highest at 52.52).
Kohli has amassed 15 more hundreds than Tendulkar (second-highest) did after his 205th ODI innings. Quite astonishing!!
These numbers demonstrate how dominant Kohli has been in the format.
Kohli vs Tendulkar after 205 innings:
Kohli has scored a staggering 2171 runs more than Tendulkar after 205 ODI innings (Kohli was unbeaten on 81 when this piece was filed). He has scored almost 17 runs more per dismissal than Tendulkar and has 15 more hundreds.
Just for perspective, Kohli has taken 54 less innings than Tendulkar to reach the 10,000 run mark. He would score 3,195 runs more if he would maintain his average (59.17) in these extra 54 innings. That means, Kohli would aggregate 13,195 runs when Tendulkar aggregated 10,000.
– Kohli was the joint second-fastest to 5000 ODI runs (along with Richards after Amla), second-fastest to 6000 and 7000 (after Amla) and the fastest to 8000, 9000 and 10000 ODI runs.
– Kohli is amongst the only six batsmen in ODI history to average above 50 in ODI cricket (minimum 50 innings). He tops this list with an average of 59.17. He is followed by Bevan (53.58), De Villiers (53.5), Root (51.95), Trott (51.25) and Dhoni (50.61).
– Kohli’s Actual Average of 51.02 (Total Runs per Innings) is the highest for all batsmen who have scored a minimum of 7000 runs in positions 1-4 in ODI cricket history.
He is the only batsman who has an Actual Average of above 50.
Dominating his Contemporaries:
Last 5 years in ODI cricket:
No batsman has scored more runs than Virat Kohli (5196)
No one averages more either (69.18)
No one has registered more hundreds (20)
No one averages more in chases (75.79)
No one averages more in winning (93)
Dominating Like No One Before:
Kohli’s best period in ODI cricket is from Oct 2015 to October 2018.
He has scored 3314 runs in 49 innings at an average of 92 and a strike rate of 99.6 with 14 hundreds in this period.
This is sensational.
Rohit Sharma has the second-best average during this period – 65.63 – there is a massive gap of more than 16 runs per dismissal between him and Kohli.
Joe Root has scored 2870 runs – and is 443 runs behind Kohli.
Let us compare these numbers to two other all-time greats – Vivian Richards and Sachin Tendulkar.
Richards dominated ODI cricket between June 1983 and April 1985. During this time, he scored 2124 runs in 41 innings at an average of 62.47 and strike rate of 90.61.
His fellow teammate, Desmond Haynes was at Number two – both in terms of batting average and run aggregate (51.26, 1948).
Tendulkar scored 6324 runs between October 1994 to November 1999 at an average of 49.79 and strike rate of 90.78. Anwar with 4584 runs was second in aggregate but Bevan with 61.52 had the highest average.
Clearly, Kohli’s domination has been unprecedented.
Kohli is just 29. With at least 6-7 years of cricket left in him, the sky is the limit for Kohli.
Or maybe even that is not!