Statistical comparison - ODIs: Virat Kohli vs Hashim Amla

Virat Kohli and Hashim Amla

One has grown into a superstar in Indian cricket; the other has established himself as one of the greats of South African cricket in recent times.

For comparison, both have contrasting playing styles. While Hashim Amla largely relies on hand-eye co-ordination and has a strong game on the off-side, Virat Kohli loves flicking with his wrists. However, the two have one big thing in common and that is the love of proper cricketing shots in an age where a batsman reverse-sweeps so commonly.

Overall numbers

While Kohli, having just turned 26 recently, had a smooth transition to senior level cricket from his Under-19 days, Amla struggled a bit before breaking into the ODI side in 2008, the same year when Kohli debuted. And now at 31, despite being an accomplished Test batsman the South African is yet to complete 100 games in the one-day format.

Having said that, the ‘bearded genius’ is held in high regard for his supreme stroke play. On the other hand, the Delhi-cricketer is yet to fulfill his potential in the longest format of the game while being a delightful LOI batsman. Frankly speaking, you cannot hate both these run-machines based on their batting and there are more similarities than differences between these two right-handers. Their numbers suggest the same.

Player	Matches	Innings	Runs	Average	Strike Rate	Highest	100s	50s
Virat Kohli	144	136	6003	51.30	90.01	183	20	32
Hashim Amla	98	95	4790	54.43	88.60	150	16	25

Records and milestones

Kohli, as one would suggest has been playing some brilliant cricket for Team India. Creditably, the Indian vice-captain equalled Viv Richards’ record to become the quickest to reach 4000 runs (by matches), 5000 runs (by innings) before bettering the record at the 6000 mark (both matches and innings) in his last match.

Having not played that many ODIs for the Proteas, Amla is pressing on Kohli with full force shattering the records created by the Indian by comfortable margins.

Fastest to X number of runs

	1000		2000		3000
	Matches	Innings	Matches	Innings	Matches	Innings
Kohli	27	24	56	53	78	75
Amla	25	24	41	40	59	57
Record	22	21	41	40	59	57

4000			5000		6000
	Matches	Innings	Matches	Innings	Matches	Innings
Kohli	96	93	120	114	144	136
Amla	84	81	81	-	-	-
Record	84	81	120	114	144	136

Don’t read too much into the above numbers, because it might fool you if you judge Kohli by that. It is not that the young champion is inferior to Amla, that man is too good. And considering that Amla plays as an opener, he gets more time in a particular match compared to Kohli who comes in at 3 or even 4 at times.

Also, Amla outclassed Kohli by smashing his record for the fastest to reach 15 ODI tons. Amla took only 86 innings compared to Kohli’s 106. The Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper has been included twice in the ICC ODI team of the year against Amla’s only appearance in 2013.

Going by this stat and assuming that Amla will continue at this rate, he will not be having much of a problem to shatter the 5000 and 6000 runs benchmarks set by Kohli. To be more exact, Amla has 19 innings in hand to score 210 runs to be the fastest to cross 5000 runs.

Contribution in wins

Considering Kohli’s many memorable hundreds in winning contributions, one would expect Kohli to beat Amla outright. However, it is surprising to find out that the South African boasts a better average against Kohli’s 67.23.

	Matches won	Innings	Runs	Average	Strike Rate	Highest	100s	50s	0s
Kohli	86	82	4303	67.23	93.89	183	18	18	6
Amla	63	62	3865	69.01	90.24	150	15	20	1

Away record

Interestingly, Amla’s performances are on the higher side than his numbers at home. His 2213 runs have come at 63.22 per dismissal with 7 tons. With no ducks in his 40 innings Amla wins handsomely in the comparison. However, Kohli’s numbers should not be taken for granted.