Indian batting great surpasses Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara with 28,068 runs across all formats but trails compatriot Sachin Tendulkar.
India’s Virat Kohli has become the second-highest scorer across all formats of international cricket after his match-winning knock of 93 in the first one-day international (ODI) against New Zealand.
Kohli went past Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara (28,016 runs) on Sunday to move into second in the list of leading run-scorers in the international game, behind fellow Indian Sachin Tendulkar (34,357).
The top-order batter now has 28,068 runs in Test, ODI and T20 cricket since making his debut for India in an ODI in Sri Lanka in 2008.
“If I look back at my whole journey, then it is nothing short of a dream-come-true for me,” Kohli said after being named Player of the Match in Vadodara.
“I have always known my abilities, but I also knew I had to work extremely hard to get where I am today. God has blessed me with far more than I could ever ask for. I look back at my journey with a lot of grace and gratitude, and I feel really proud of it.”
His 91-ball knock in the ODI opener helped India chase down a victory target of 301 with four wickets and six balls to spare to lead the three-match series 1-0.
But the in-form Kohli missed out on his 54th ODI century after he registered his fifth 50-plus score in as many ODI innings, including two hundreds.
“If I am being brutally honest, the way I’m playing right now, I’m not thinking about milestones at all,” the former captain said.
In his 17th year in international cricket, he continues to reinvent himself. Kohli said he now aims to make the most of the first 20 deliveries after coming in at first drop.
He said he has tweaked his approach of late to counterattack early in his innings and put bowlers under pressure.
After opener Rohit Sharma fell for 26 in the ninth over, Kohli refused to retreat into a defensive shell and instead took the initiative to force New Zealand’s attack onto the back foot.
“If the situation is a bit tricky, I back myself to counterattack now rather than just trying to play the situation in because some ball has your name on it,” he said.
“There’s no point waiting around for too long. But at the same time, you don’t play outrageous shots. You still stick to your strengths, but you back yourself enough to put the opposition on the back foot,” he said.
The swashbuckling batter believed his approach would have been more aggressive had India not been chasing.
“If we were batting first, I probably would’ve gone harder. But in a chase, with a total on the board, I had to play the situation. I felt like hitting more boundaries, but experience kicks in. The only thing on my mind was getting the team into a position where we could win comfortably.”
“That actually ended up being the difference in the game.”
Called King Kohli for his prolific run-scoring, the 37-year-old now only plays the ODI format after he and fellow stalwart Sharma, 38, retired from T20 and Test cricket.
The future of the two cricketers has been widely debated, with both likely targeting the ODI World Cup in 2027.
