Days after relinquishing Test captaincy, Virat Kohli on Wednesday became the Indian batter with most runs in away ODIs. Kohli achieved the feat during India's first ODI match against South Africa at Boland Park.
Virat Kohli surpassed Sachin Tendulkar's tally of 5065 runs (in 146 innings) for the most runs by an Indian batter in away ODI matches.
Days after relinquishing Test captaincy, Virat Kohli on Wednesday became the Indian batter with most runs in away ODIs. Kohli achieved the feat during India's first ODI match against South Africa at Boland Park.
Kohli scored 51 off 63 balls, with the help of three boundaries, as India chase a target of 267 runs in Paarl. This was the right-handed batter's nine fifty in the last 14 ODIs, and fifth in six.
The 33-year-old, in the process, surpassed Sachin Tendulkar's tally of 5065 runs (146 innings) for the most runs by an Indian in away ODI matches. Kohli entered the match (his 104th innings) nine runs behind Tendulkar.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (4520 runs in 124 innings), Rahul Dravid (3998 in 110) and Sourav Ganguly (3468 in 98) complete the top five. Overall, Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara (5,518) holds the top spot for most runs in overseas ODIs. When he reached 27, Kohli also went past former Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid for most runs scored against South Africa.
Succeeded recently by Rohit Sharma as India's full-time limited-overs skipper, Kohli came into the game with 1287 runs against the Proteas. In his previous six innings against South Africa, Kohli has scored 129 not out, 36, 75, 160 not out, 46 not out and 112. Kohli now remains only behind Tendulkar, who has scored 2,001 runs against South Africa in ODIs, the most by any player across countries.
In the overall list, Kohli is now the sixth-highest run-scorer against South Africa, behind Ricky Ponting (1,879), Sangakkara (1,789), Steve Waugh (1,581), and Shivnarine Chanderpaul (1,559). Kohli shocked the cricket fraternity last week by announcing his decision to step down as India's Test captain, a day after the team lost the three-match series 1-2.