Virat Kohli has continued to shatter records no matter which part of the globe he is playing cricket in or what format. In the third and final ODI of the 3-match series against Australia, the Indian captain became the fastest player to score 12,000 runs in ODI cricket, surpassing Sachin Tendulkar. Kohli’s performance didn’t just please his fans but also an all-time great, Sunil Gavaskar, who described his achievements ‘beyond phenomenal’.
Gavaskar, in conversation with India Today, extolled Kohli for the way he has developed himself as a player. Be it his fitness or the hunger to do well, the 32-year-old has become an inspiration for youngsters all across India.
“His performance in all formats of the game has been Virat. He has been magnificent. The way he has grown as a batsman from what we say in 2008 and 2009 as an U-19 player. The way he has developed his game, the way he has made sacrifices to become a superfit cricketer, that has been inspirational for not just youngsters but those who are focussing on keeping fit,” Gavaskar said.
Tendulkar had held the record of being the fastest batsman to score 12,000 runs in one-day international cricket for 16 years before Kohli surpassed him in the Canberra ODI on Wednesday. The talismanic batsman only took 242 innings to reach the milestones while the Master Blaster had taken 300.
When it comes to the ODI format, Kohli averages a whopping 59.31. Such has been his consistency with the bat that his numbers truly seen unbelievable.
“More than 12,000 runs, when he got the half-century today. I think he has played 251 ODI matches in which he has got 43 centuries and 60 fifties. So we are talking about 103 times out of 251 that he has gone past fifty. That’s absolutely amazing. I don’t think anybody else has done that. That consistency, that converting of fifties to hundreds has been unbelievable. I keep saying beyond phenomenal. We have to keep celebrating that. We should look forward to the next 1000, which hopefully will come in the next 5 or 6 months.”
