4 times Virat Kohli created records to set a new benchmark

Virat Kohli has been in the form of his life. Even in his dream, he would not have thought he would reach such a high in international cricket. Whenever he comes to bat he is breaking some sort of record which is a kind of benchmark he has set with his prolific batting. Sachin Tendulkar had retired from cricket in 2013 and Virat Kohli started peaking from 2013.

It's like taking over the legacy left by the little master and Virat has been getting great support from Rohit and Dhawan. This trio has literally ruled Indian limited overs cricket since 2013. In Tests, Virat Kohli is hitting the peak in every place he had travelled.

The year 2018 has been special for the Indian captain as he had toured the three toughest countries in the same year and had proved his worth in South Africa, England, and Australia. He will be very satisfied cricketer after scoring loads of runs on these three tours.

Virat has been breaking records every night and we are going to see four such instances where Virat became the first player to achieve a significant record.

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#1 First cricketer to win all three top ICC awards in the same year

ICC honours the greatest performers every year since 2004. There are three top awards which catch the eye of the fans, ICC cricketer of the year, ICC ODI cricketer of the year and ICC Test cricketer of the year.

Rahul Dravid won both a cricketer and Test cricketer of the year in the inaugural ICC awards. There are few cricketers who had won the two out of these three awards. But none of the cricketers won all three awards, It makes Virat Kohli the first cricketer to win all the three awards.

Before this, He had won the ODI cricketer of the year in 2012 and 2017. He also won the cricketer of the year during last year. This made Kohli's 2018 even better.

#2 First cricketer to score 2500+ runs in three consecutive years

Kohli scored over 2500 runs in three last three years

Scoring runs are tough and scoring runs consistently is even tougher but the Indian captain has been doing this with the ease, He had breached 2500+ international runs in the last three calendar year which has been phenomenal. He also scored 29 centuries in last three years. These are career numbers for some cricketers. His conversion rate has been incredible, Ever since he became the Indian captain, took his game to next level.

Among Indians, only Sachin, Dravid and Ganguly had scored over 2500 runs in a calendar year and they did once, whereas Kohli did this thrice that too in three consecutive years. We can talk about rule changes and small grounds still these are incredible numbers and none of the other present generation cricketers is near to Kohli which makes him special.

He has still not stopped and already scored a century in 2019. With World Cup around this year, He could breach 2500 runs yet again.

#3 First cricketer to score over 550 runs in a bilateral ODI series

Virat scored world record 558 runs in South Africa ODI series

Virat Kohli is the only cricketer to score over 550 runs in a bilateral series. It was a six-match series between India and South Africa, Indian captain scored three centuries during the series. He began the series solid 112 at Durban then followed up with an unbeaten match-winning 160 at Capetown and ended the series with 129 at Centurion. He also missed a century in fourth ODI as he got out for 75.

His prolific run in the series fetched him 558 runs which are most by any cricketer in a bilateral series. He is also placed seventh in most run scorers in an ODI series list. The other six players scored more than him in the World Cup or multination tournament and it makes this record even more special, An unbelievable performance from Kohli helped India to win the series 5-1.

#4 First cricketer to score 4 double centuries in four consecutive Test series

Kohli scored his maiden double century vs West Indies

Virat Kohli had a decent start to his test career, However, he wasn't able to convert the hundreds into daddy hundreds, He had never crossed 120 runs in his first seven Test centuries. He was criticized for throwing away the wicket after scoring a century. Indian captain later realized the value of staying on the wicket in Test cricket.

So he changed his game to suit the longest format of the cricket. The Delhi boy showed immense patience in his later part of Test career. He scored his maiden double century against West Indies. Once he understood the Test cricket, the daddy hundreds kept on coming.

His maiden Test 200 came against West Indies in 2016. The second double century came against New Zeland in India's next Test series. He also scored the third double century when England visited India. The final and the record fourth double century came against Bangladesh in the only Test.

He became the first cricketer to score four double centuries in four consecutive Test series. Bradman and Dravid scored three double centuries in three consecutive Test series which was the record prior to this.