Virat Kohli Breaks Several Records in 3rd ODI Against South Africa: Indian Captain Goes Past Saurav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar with 34th Century

India beat South Africa by 124 runs in the Third One Day International (ODI) at Newlands and took an unassailable lead in the six-match ODI series. No other batsmen in the team looked comfortable in the middle as they weren’t even able to cross the 20-run mark. Only Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan looked in fine touch, which helped India post a winning total on the scoreboard. Riding high on the back of stupendous spin bowling from the spin-combo of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav, India folded the South African side on 179 runs. Earlier, India posted a competitive total of 304 on the back of Kohli's unbeaten inning of 160.

Virat Kohli is arguably the best batsman in the modern era. His contemporaries - Joe Root, Kane Williamson, and Steve Smith - are far behind when it comes to ODIs. Whenever the Indian captain is batting, it seems as if he is batting on a completely different tune than his teammates.

Kohli, like he usually does, broke a lot of records as he fought hard for his 34^th century on Wednesday. We, at Latestly, look at a list of Virat Kohli’s achievements as he remained unbeaten on 160 against South Africa in the Third ODI.

1. Longest ODI Innings

Virat Kohli played out an innings of 159 balls to score his 34^th Hundred in the Capetown ODI. It was his longest ODI innings in terms of balls played. Prior to it, his knock of 183 off 148 balls against Pakistan (at Asia Cup 2012) was the longest inning. His long innings yesterday also happens to be the longest ODI innings among Indian non-opening batsmen.

2. Ran His Way To Century, Literally - Only Indian To Do So

Kohli, in a literal sense, ran his way to a magnificent hundred. Out of the 160 runs he scored, 100 were scored by running and only 60 runs came in boundaries. Kohli took 75 singles (75 runs), 11 doubles (22 runs), and a treble (3 runs), in his innings. Before him, only four other batsmen have scored more than him while running in an ODI innings – Gary Kirsten ran 112 runs in his innings of 188 against UAE in 1996 World Cup; Faf du Plessis ran 103 runs in his unbeaten marathon knock of 185 runs against Sri Lanka, last year; Adam Gilchrist scored 102 runs while running in his innings of 172 against Zimbabwe in 2004; Martin Guptill took 101 runs while running in his innings of 189 against England in 2013.

3. Virat Kohli Goes Past Saurav Ganguly

Kohli scored his 34^th century, on Wednesday, and it was his 12^th as India Captain. The previous record was held by Saurav Ganguly who had scored 11 centuries as Indian captain. The feat was special as Kohli took 100 innings lesser than Ganguly did. Ahead of Kohli in the most number of centuries by an ODI captain are Ricky Ponting (22) and AB de Villiers (13).

4. Scores 34^th Century, Faster Than Sachin Tendulkar

Virat Kohli took a stunning 101-innings lesser than Sachin Tendulkar to score his 34^th Hundred. Kohli’s century came in his 197^th ODI inning, whereas Tendulkar had taken 298 innings to reach his 34^th hundred.

5. Highest Score By An Indian In South Africa

Virat Kohli surpassed another record set by Master Blaster Tendulkar. Kohli’s innings of 160, is now the highest by an Indian in an ODI in South Africa. Previously, Sachin held the record when he had scored 152 runs (his 34^th hundred) against Namibia in 2003 World Cup.

The 'Master of Chases' has come a long way ahead from where he started off in 2008. Kohli, since then, has been breaking a lot of records and is already been tipped off to surpass Tendulkar's records. For now, the Indian captain would be focussing on India's maiden ODI series win in South Africa against South Africa -- well, it will be another first for any Indian captain. Stay tuned for all the latest updates about Virat Kohli here.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 08, 2018 11:57 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).