Virat Kohli creates history, surpasses Sachin Tendulkar in THIS record list

Virat Kohli on Wednesday (January 19) became India’s highest run-getter in away ODIs. The 33-year-old achieved the feat in the ongoing first ODI of the three-match series against South Africa at the Boland Park, Paarl.

After scoring nine runs in the ongoing ODI, Kohli went past Sachin Tendulkar who had scored 5,065 runs in the away ODIs for the country.

Notably, Tendulkar had 5065 runs in 147 innings, but Kohli overtook him in just 104 innings with a far superior average of 58 to Tendulkar’s 37. The 33-year-old batter is followed by former India captain MS Dhoni (4520 runs in 124 inns), Rahul Dravid (3998 runs in 110 inns), and Sourav Ganguly (3468 runs in 105 inns).

Cannot be a match day without a @imVkohli milestone. 

Can you tell us which #TeamIndia legend is top of this list, 12th Man Army? #PlayBold #SAvIND pic.twitter.com/nth2htGf9B

— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) January 19, 2022

Kohli overtakes Dravid and Ganguly

During the match, Kohli, after scoring 26 runs, also surpassed Rahul Dravid (1309 runs) and Sourav Ganguly (1313 runs) to become the second-highest Indian run-getter in ODIs against South Africa after Sachin’s tally of 2001 runs.

Earlier, Rassie van der Dussen (129*) and Temba Bavuma (110) were the bright spots with the bat as South Africa posted 296/4. Bavuma and van der Dussen put on a stand of 204 runs for the fourth wicket and this is the second-highest by a South African pair in ODIs against India.

Kohli had last registered an international century in 2019 as he scored a ton against Bangladesh in the day-night Test at the Eden Gardens. After that, the batter managed to get half-century several times but the three-figure mark has kept on evading him.

Last week, Kohli announced his decision to step down as India’s Test skipper.

Kohli holds the record for most Test appearances as India Test captain (68) and he also holds the record for most Test wins by an Indian captain (40). Only Graeme Smith, Ricky Ponting, and Steve Waugh have won more matches than Kohli as captain in Test cricket.

Last year, Kohli had stepped down as the T20I captain and then he was removed as the ODI skipper after the selectors wanted to have one captain for the white-ball formats.