Virat Kohli made another splash in the record books in the second ODI against England at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff. The Indian batting legend scored two big doubles in the same innings to further cement his status as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of international cricket.
He surpassed two cricket legends, Rahul Dravid and Kumar Sangakkara, and also amassed considerable records in the overseas format, as he climbed the top of two prestigious batting charts by the age of 37.
Kohli makes him India’s top batsman in England.Kohli is the most successful batsman in England for India.
Kohli had to score just a few runs to surpass Rahul Dravid’s tally of international runs scored on English soil. It was a big wicket that came early in his innings as he scored off Jofra Archer.
In doing so, Kohli became the highest run scoring Indian, in all three international formats in England, which stood for years.
Most International runs off a single delivery (India).Most international runs off single delivery (India).
| Player | Runs |
|---|---|
| Virat Kohli | 2,646* |
| Rahul Dravid | 2,645 |
| Sachin Tendulkar | 2,626 |
| Rohit Sharma | 2,308* |
| Sourav Ganguly | 1,949 |
It also marked Kohli’s emergence as the top Asian batsman in England. Only the cricket geniuses like Viv Richards, Steve Smith, Ricky Ponting and Allan Border have accumulated more ODI runs for Australia as overseas players of the game.
The success in England has been a 15-year journey and Kohli has proven his consistency over T20Is, ODIs and Tests against one of cricket’s toughest opposition.
World Record in Away ODIs
Kohli also moved into the elite company of the other lists he made during the Cardiff game.
He also surpassed Sri Lanka’s former captain Kumar Sangakkara to become the batsman with the highest number of matches against other countries where he scored the most runs in ODI cricket.
Most runs scored by the batsman in any ODI away match.
| Player | Runs |
|---|---|
| Virat Kohli | 5,519* |
| Kumar Sangakkara | 5,518 |
| Ricky Ponting | 5,090 |
| Sachin Tendulkar | 5,065 |
| MS Dhoni | 4,520 |
Kohli hit the milestone in just 126 away ODIs against Sangakkara’s 149 matches.
These are some of the most recent achievements in Kohli’s phenomenal international journey. The former India captain had a quiet outing in the opening ODI but he came up with a big idea to rewrite two records in Cardiff.
Kohli is also eyeing another milestone, needing a couple of runs to become the third Indian batsman after Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly to score 8,000 runs in ODI cricket outside India, which could become possible later in the England series.