Virat Kohli on Sunday became the first ever captain to score 2000+ international runs in consecutive calendar years during the first ODI match against the West Indies at Guwahati.
The 29-year-old reached the mark in the 10th over. For the third successive year, Kohli has scored more than 2000 runs in India colours - a feat previously achieved by Sachin Tendulkar (1996-98), Matthew Hayden (2002-04) and Joe Root (2015-17).
The record for more 2000+ international runs in a year belongs to Kumar Sangakkara, followed by Tendulkar, Mahela Jayawardene and Kohli – all with five.
Hayden, Ricky Ponting, Sourav Ganguly and Jacques Kallis have done it four times.
But no captain has managed to score 2000+ runs in two successive years until today. Kohli had scored 2818 runs last year.
Kohli also hit his 49th ODI half-century, in just 35 balls. This is his fourth fastest fifty in ODIs. His fastest is a 27-ball fifty against Australia at Jaipur in 2013.
Earlier, chasing a target of 323 runs, India lost opener Shikhar Dhawan in the second over. But the skipper joined hands with his deputy Rohit Sharma to not only steady the innings but also launch a counterattack.
