Virat Kohli becomes the fastest captain to score 2,000 ODI runs, breaks AB de Villiers’ record

Virat Kohli could not turn the match to India's favour with his batting but managed to break a unique record of AB de Villiers

By: Arun Rawal |
September 29, 2017 12:18 pm

Virat Kohli’s winning streak ended with the 4th ODI at Bengaluru with Australia winning the dead rubber by 21 runs. However, even though the hosts lost the match, the Indian skipper managed to break yet another record in ODI cricket. Kohli broke the record of his Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) teammate AB de Villiers’ record to become the fastest captain to score 2,000 ODI runs. Kohli reached the feat in just 36 innings as compared to De Villiers’ now broken record of achieving the same feat in 41 innings. The Proteas skipper had made this unique record in the year 2014.

Even though Kohli broke the record, he could not convert the boost with which he started chasing the big target of 335 and failed to put up a big individual score. He was involved in a runout of opener Rohit Sharma who had been taking on Australian bowlers with ease. Unfortunately, Kohli got out soon enough after scoring just 21 runs from 21 balls, leaving India in danger.

In the 4th ODI, Kohli was on his way to break another captaincy record. Team India had recorded 9 wins on the trot, and a win at Bengaluru would have ensured that Kohli breaks MS Dhoni’s record, which they both share as of now. With a loss in Bengaluru ODI, Australia were able to end the drought of an overseas win as they had not recorded a single win in the previous 13 ODI matches they played away from the Australian soil.

Kohli-Rohit runout attracted a lot of outrage on social media as many believed that the skipper could have sacrificed his wicket because the opener was in-form.

India will again be playing Australia in a dead rubber ODI at Nagpur. The hosts have already won the series, the 6th bilateral series win on the trot, however, with the recent loss they now can’t whitewash the series as they did in Sri Lanka.

Kohli did not blame anyone for the loss in 4th ODI. In the post-match presentation, he felt that the Australians played better than the hosts and the Indian bowlers did well to pull back things in the death overs and restrict Australia to under 350.