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Virat Kohli, the Indian captain, has broken yet another batting record, becoming the quickest to record 5,000 runs as captain in ODIs.
Kohli reached the mark when on 14 during India’s chase of 287 in the decider of the three-match ODI series against Australia, in Bengaluru on January 19. It was just his 82nd innings as captain, making him the fastest to the landmark, well ahead of his former skipper MS Dhoni, who held the record previously with 127 innings.
Overall, Kohli became the eighth captain to reach the milestone in the format, and the fourth Indian after Mohammad Azharuddin, Sourav Ganguly and MS Dhoni to do so. Ricky Ponting, the former Australian World Cup winning captain tops the run-scoring charts as captain with 8,497 runs while leading the side, while Stephen Fleming, Arjuna Ranatunga and Graeme Smith round off the top eight.
What a showman! https://t.co/mb6jJOHuoH
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) January 19, 2020
Kohli’s staggering average of 76.84, stands highest in the 1,000-run club for ODI captains, well above the second-placed AB de Villiers, whose 4,796 runs while leading South Africa came at an impressive 63.94. Of Kohli’s 82 innings as skipper, 43 have been fifty-plus scores, with 21 of those being converted into three figures, one short of Ponting’s 22 so far.
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The chase-master had a major contribution of 89, as India, powered by Rohit Sharma’s entertaining hundred, hunted down yet another total to take the series 2-1. Rohit had crossed the 9,000-run mark in ODIs early in his innings, and his 29th ODI ton took him past Sanath Jayasuriya’s tally to be fourth, behind Ponting (30), Kohli (43) and Sachin Tendulkar (49), among batsmen with most ODI hundreds.