India skipper Virat Kohli slammed his 32 ODI hundred (113 off 106 balls) against New Zealand in the third ODI in Kanpur on Sunday. The 28-year-old maverick batsman, playing in his 202nd game for India, unlocked another record; he became the fastest to breach the 9,000 run-mark in the history of ODI cricket.
The right-handed batsman’s intentions were clear from the onset. He joined Rohit Sharma (147 off 138) in the seventh over — after Shikhar Dhawan’s early dismissal — and stitched a 230-run partnership for the second wicket.
Read: Kohli smashes 31st ton, next only to Tendulkar now
Though Kohli overtook former Australia batsman Ricky Ponting in the most number of centuries (30) list last week (when he smashed 121 in the first ODI), the runs ‘top five’ list isn’t easy.
It is headed by Sachin Tendulkar (49 ODI hundreds, 18,426 runs in 463 matches) — who Kohli is next to in terms of hundreds — followed by Kumar Sangakkara (14,234 in 404 matches), Ponting (13,704 in 375 matches), Sanath Jayasuriya (13,430 in 445 matches) and Mahela Jayawardene (12,650 in 448 matches).
There are two other Indians in the first 10 — Sourav Ganguly (11,363 runs in 311 matches) and Rahul Dravid (10,889 in 344 matches).
M.S. Dhoni is in the 12 position with 9,801 runs in 309 matches.
At present, Kohli is right behind Mohammad Azharuddin (9,378 runs in 334 matches).
Kohli, along with Rohit, also touched the 200-run mark for the fourth time; second time this year. They have the most number of 200-plus partnerships in ODI cricket.
Earlier, Gautam Gambhir-Kohli and Tendulkar-Sourav Ganguly achieved the feat thrice.
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