Virat Kohli: 49 not out

Sure there may have been a few glitches or misses here and there edges falling short and wickets tumbling but nothing could come in the way of Indias talismanic batsman Virat Kohli against South AfricaKohli who is celebrating his 35th birthday on Sunday played an innings to savour an innings full of character and an innings for which he deserves plaudits He got to the landmark in 119 balls including 10 fours at Kolkatas Eden Gardens It had taken him 277 innings to score 49 hundreds at this level compared to the 438 required by fellow India great Sachin TendulkarEvery opportunity to play for India is a big one to be able to ton up on my birthday is a stuff of dreams said Kohli whose century added to his ongoing total of over 26000 international runs Kohlis 101 not out was the centrepiece of unbeaten tournament hosts Indias 3265 in their 50 oversFrom his early days when he led India to a U19 World Cup victory in 2008 and made his international debut in the same year Kohli has consistently dominated headlines with his extraordinary runscoring abilityKohli has represented India in 111 Tests scoring 8676 runs at an average of 4929 He has 29 centuries and 29 fifties under his belt with best score of 254 He is Indias fifthhighest scorer in Tests His childhood idol Tendulkar is the highest Test runscorer with 15921 runs Notably Kohli has notched the fourthhighest number of Test centuries for India and is among the top 10 worldwideThe Delhiborn batter is Indias most successful Test captain ever With 40 wins 17 losses and 11 draws in 68 games Kohli boasts of an incredible resume as a captain Under his captaincy India earned five successive ICC World Test Championship maces ending as the topranked side of the season for five successive yearsWhile delving into the raw statistics it becomes abundantly clear that Kohli might just be the finest ODI batsman everIn just 288 ODIs Kohli has scored 13525 runs at an average of 5804 with 48 centuries and 70 tons in 276 innings His best score is 183 He is the fourthhighest ODI rungetter and secondhighest rungetter for India in 50over format with Sachin at top with 18426 runs in 463 matchesThe ChaseMaster Kohli in ODIs is a different beast in Blue In 159 matches he has scored 7794 runs while chasing at an average of 6549 with 27 centuries and 40 fiftiesAlso ReadVirat Kohli the most complete batsman in modern eraDuring successful runchases in ODIs Kohli has scored 5786 runs at an average of 9040 in 102 matches with 23 centuries and 25 fifties in 96 innings He is also the fastest to achieve milestones of 8000 to 13000 ODI runsKohli has led India in 95 ODIs winning 65 losing 27 one tied and two ending in no results In T20Is he has scored 4008 runs in 115 matches and 107 innings at an average of 5273 with one century and 37 fifties His best individual score is 122 He is the highest runscorer in T20Is and has most number of Man of the Match 15 and Man of the Series seven awards in the formatKohli has led India in 60 T20Is winning 30 losing 16 and two each ending as ties and no resultsOverall in 514 international matches Kohli has scored 26209 runs at an average of 5403 with the best score of 254 He has scored 78 centuries and 136 centuries in international cricket He is the fourthhighest rungetter in international cricket and secondhighest for India Tendulkar is the highest runscorer in international cricket with 34357 runs in 664 matchesKohli is a player that thrives on big stages He is the only player to have scored 3000 runs in ICC whiteball events In 33 Cricket World Cup matches he has scored 1472 runs at an average of 5451 with three centuries and 10 fifties He is the fourthhighest rungetter in the tournament history with Sachin at top with 2278 runs in 45 matchesKohli is the highest rungetter in T20 World Cup In 27 matches and 25 innings he has scored 1141 runs at an average of 8150 with 14 fiftiesA massive stat of Kohlis prowess in T20I batting is that in nine successful runchases at this tournament he averages 518 and has seven fifties to his name He has been dismissed only once in a successful T20 World Cup chaseAlso ReadDown the memory laneIn ICC Champions Trophy Kohli has scored 529 runs in 12 innings across 13 matches at an average of 8816 with best score of 96 and five fiftiesIn 73 ICC event matches across 70 innings Kohli has scored 3142 runs at an average of 6685 with three centuries and 29 fifties He is also the part of Indian team which won the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup and 2013 ICC Champions TrophyWith 7263 runs in 237 matches at an average of 3724 in the Indian Premier League IPL Kohli is the highest runscorer in IPL history With seven centuries he holds record of most IPL tons His tally of 973 runs in 16 matches of IPL 2016 with four centuries and seven fifties at an average of 8108 is the highest peak attained in T20s by an Indian