India captain Virat Kohli created history on Wednesday by becoming the fastest batsman to go past the 10,000-run mark in One-Day International cricket.
Kohli achieved the landmark during the second ODI between India and West Indies in Vizag. He is the 13th batsman and fifth Indian overall to pass the milestone and did so in his 205th ODI innings.
The 29-year-old was 81 runs away from entering the 10,000 club before the match started and took 91 deliveries to get there. He surpassed fellow Indian batting great Sachin Tendulkar, who first crossed the 10,000-run mark in 259 innings in 2001.
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He reached the 10,000 milestone with a single off spinner Ashley Nurse, then hit Marlon Samuels for a boundary to get his second successive ton of the five-match series. Kohli received a clap on the back from batting partner Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who himself breached the 10,000 threshold in July.
Cricket analyst Freddie Wilde likened the speed of Kohli’s 10,000 feat to shaving seconds from Usain Bolt’s 100 metre world-record time.
“King Kohli”, as he is known in the Indian press, was dropped on 44 by his opposite number Jason Holder off debutant Obed McCoy, after electing to bat first.
The star batsman smashed 13 fours and four sixes in the knock.
Kohli, playing his 213th ODI, went on to score 157 off 129 deliveries to register his 37th ODI century since making his debut against Sri Lanka in 2008. In the process he also went past 1000 runs in 2018 in ODIs, and became the leading run-scorer in the format in the calendar year. He needed just 11 ODIs to get there. He has achieved the feat five times in ODIs in the past – in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2017.
Earlier, Kohli won the toss and elected to bat. India, who lead the five-match series 1-0, made just one change from their opening win on Sunday with spinner Kuldeep Yadav coming in for Khaleel Ahmed.
“Looks like a nice and hard wicket. May be it will get slower in the second half,” Kohli said after winning the toss. “Because of our bowling combination, we want to put up a score on the board and ask them to chase it down.”
West Indies skipper Jason Holder said he was not disappointed with bowling first as the tourists have handed left-arm paceman Obed McCoy his international debut. The 21-year-old McCoy comes in place of Oshane Thomas.
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