Virat Kohli Can Break THESE Records Held by Sachin Tendulkar and Rohit Sharma on India vs West Indies 2019 Tour
Reports of BCCI removing Virat Kohli as the ODI skipper and replacing him with Rohit, added to the pressure of another disappointing World Cup campaign, will have certainly unsettled Kohli the captain. But Virat the batsman is still among the best batsmen of this generation.
Amidst rumours of an ongoing rift with Rohit Sharma and existence of two groups in the Indian team dressing room, Virat Kohli left for the United States as the official captain of the Indian cricket team. Reports of BCCI removing Kohli as the ODI skipper and replacing him with Rohit, added to the pressure of another disappointing World Cup campaign, will have certainly unsettled Kohli the captain. But Virat the batsman is still among the best batsmen of this generation. Like always – breaking and creating records – Kohli has an opportunity to slam multiple records during India’s tour to West Indies. India vs West Indies 2019: Virat Kohli's Double Century and Other Top Knocks by Indian Batsman in the Caribbean.
Kohli was retained as captain of the Indian national team despite speculations of BCCI asking him to resign from ODI captaincy. The 30-year-old will lead India in all three formats of the game in the tour of West Indies, which starts on August 3, 2019. India face West Indies in three T20s in the United States before also playing them in three ODIs and two Test matches in the Caribbean island. But before India – West Indies bilateral series get going, take a look at the various records Kohli could break against West Indies. India vs West Indies T20 2019 Series: Shreyas Iyer to Rishabh Pant, These Indian Batsmen Are to Watch Out for.
Fastest Indian to Reach 7000 Test runs
Kohli is on track to overtake both Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar in becoming the fastest Indian batsman to complete 7000 Test runs. He is 387 runs away from reaching the milestone and has three innings in his hands to beat the record set by Sehwag, who achieved the feat 134 Test innings. Sachin took 136 innings to complete 7000 Test runs, while Kohli has so far played 131 innings for 6613 runs. India vs West Indies T20 2019 Series: Deepak Chahar to Navdeep Saini, These Indian Bowlers Are to Watch Out for.
Wally Hammond of England is the fastest batsman to complete 7000 Test runs. He achieved the feat in 131 innings, while Kohli has already played 131 innings. Kohli though has played the fewest number of matches than Hammond, Sehwag and Sachin. The Indian skipper has so far played 77 games, while Hammond crossed the 7000-run mark in 80 Test matches. Sehwag and Sachin took 79 and 85 matches respectively to get there.
Most Twenty20 Career Runs
Rohit Sharma currently leads the Twenty20 batting charts with 2331 runs from 94 matches. He is the highest T20 run-scorer in international cricket. Virat Kohli third on this list with 2263 runs from just 67 matches and can very well overtake his compatriot by performing well in the three T20s against West Indies. Kohli is just 78 runs behind Rohit and can surpass the Indian opener during the three-match T20 series against the West Indies. Martin Guptill is second in the list of most T20 career runs with 2272 runs from 76 matches.
India vs West Indies 2019 Schedule: Fixtures of T20, ODIs and Test Series With Match Timings in IST
Most ODI runs in 2019 Calendar Year
Virat Kohli is placed fourth in the list of most ODI runs scored in 2019. Rohit once again leads the chart with 1204 ODI runs from 22 ODI matches in 2019. Kohli has played 20 ODI games so far. He along with Rohit is set to play three more ODI games in the Caribbean, and the ODI master that Kohli has always been, it gives a very good opportunity to surpass his compatriot Rohit and become the highest ODI run-scorer in 2019. He has already achieved the feat in 2011, 2017 and 2018.
Kohli registered five consecutive half-centuries in ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 making him the first Indian and only second player after Steve Smith to reach such a milestone in World Cup history. But he failed to score a single ODI century in CWC 2019. His last century came against Australia on March 8, 2019, since then he has played 11 ODI games but is yet to score a century.
Kohli is also the leading batsman in both the ICC Test and ODI rankings for batting and will hope to continue his extended stay at the top with another superlative performance in the Caribbean. The 30-year-old batsman has two ODI and one Test century in the Caribbean in 12 and 7 matches respectively. He also enjoys a healthy average of 55.60 in the Caribbean in ODIs but will look to improve his Test record there where he only averages 36.33.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 31, 2019 07:38 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).