Indian cricket star Virat Kohli has achieved another milestone in his career during the first test of the two-match series against South Africa. The 35-year-old has broken Kumar Sangakkara’s record of most 2000 international runs in a calendar year.
Virat Kohli’s impressive batting was the only positive aspect of India’s poor batting performance against South Africa in the second innings. He was the top scorer for Team India, hitting 76 off 82 balls, including one maximum and 12 boundaries in the third innings, showing a fight for the team.
The 35-year-old completed 2000 runs in international cricket this year on Day 3 of India’s tough outing against South Africa. This is the seventh time in a calendar year that he has crossed the 2000-run mark at the highest level. He has now achieved this feat more times than Kumar Sangakkara, who has done it six times during his career.
Virat Kohli has scored 2000 international runs in a calendar year, starting in 2012. He repeated this feat five more times in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2019 before reaching a similar milestone in 2023.
Batters with 2000+ runs in a year:
Virat Kohli – 7*
Kumar Sangakkara – 6
Mahela Jayawardene – 5
Sachin Tendulkar – 5
Jacques Kallis – 4
Matthew Hayden – 4
Ricky Ponting – 4
Sourav Ganguly – 4
Kohli now holds the record for most international runs scored by an Indian batter in a calendar year. He has amassed 2818 runs in 46 matches in 2017, including 11 hundreds and eleven half-centuries at an average of 68.73.
The Indian batting maestro has become India’s top run-getter in South Africa across all formats, surpassing Sachin Tendulkar’s 1724 runs, including six hundreds, in all formats. Kohli has scored 1750 runs in 29 matches, including five hundreds over 50 in South Africa. In ODIs, he leads the Indian batting charts in South Africa with 898 runs at an average of 74.83.
Earlier, Kohli dominated the ODI World Cup, scoring 765 runs in 11 innings, smashing eight half-centuries and six centuries. He also became the first player to score over 50 ODI runs in a single World Cup, proving that he is a true icon in the modern game of cricket.
Meanwhile, The Men in Blue were outplayed in three days at the SuperSport Park in Centurion, which is described as their worst red-ball performance in recent memory. The team captained by Rohit Sharma lost by an innings and 32 runs. The Indian team were no match for their opponents on home soil, surrendering in centurion within three days.
