20,000 in a decade: Virat Kohli, a man who leaves no milestone unturned

On his way to 43rd ODI hundred to help India beat West Indies in the third ODI, Virat Kohli became the only batsman on the planet to score 20,000 international runs in a decade. Kohli’s second hundred on the trot on Wednesday night also helped him equal Sachin Tendulkar’s record of most number of centuries against a single opposition in ODI cricket.

On the list of most international runs scored in a decade, Kohli is followed by Ricky Ponting (18,962 runs), Jacques Kallis (16,777 runs), Mahela Jayawardene (16,304 runs), Kumar Sangakkara (15,999 runs), Sachin Tendulkar (15,962 runs), Rahul Dravid (15,853 runs) and Hashim Amla (15,185 runs).

Tendulkar has nine centuries against Australia in ODI cricket whereas Kohli has eight. Both the batsmen have eight centuries against Sri Lanka as well.

Kohli scored an unbeaten 114 runs from 99 deliveries including 14 fours. He came in to bat as Rohit Sharma got out in the third over after a terrible mix-up with Shikhar Dhawan. He stitched a crucial 66-run partnership with Dhawan.

After the two quick wickets, he got the run chase back on track with help from Shreyas Iyer. The two batsmen shared a partnership of 120 runs to take the game away from the hosts and chase down the revised DLS target of 255 with 15 balls to spare.

The Jason Holder-led side paid the price of dropping Kohli early on in the innings. Wicketkeeper Shai Hope dropped his catch of Keemo Paul’s bowling. Kohli made the most of the dropped chance and helped India win their ninth bilateral ODI series against West Indies.