5 records Virat Kohli can break before 2018

Virat Kohli is arguably the best chaser in International cricket. Not just runs in the second innings, the speed at which he has been chasing records set by legends off late is unmatched.

Kohli has been in terrific form in the ongoing England India Test series. Some of the past greats like Greg Chappell have time and again praised him for his sheer passion for the game.

A few years back the one thing he was criticized for is over-aggression, but with every passing match, he has been able to use aggression in a controlled manner to propel his team to victory.

His ability to forget past failures and work on his weaknesses was on display in the first Test of the current series at Edgbaston. After scoring a second ton at Trent Bridge he proved that no conditions can obstruct his way to greatness.

Given the failures of the opening batsmen KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan, Kohli has had to steer the ship almost from the beginning of an innings when the ball is new and conditions are testing.

He is like a run-machine churning out loads and loads of runs in all the three formats. While there have been some records he has already broken in 2018, there may be many more to be added to the list, come to the end of 2018.

And it won’t be a surprise either if he breaks even more records than the ones mentioned in this article. Here we take a look at some records Kohli can break this year.

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#1 Most runs in a Test Series in England by an Indian

2011 was a series in which Rahul Dravid showed the Indian fans what they are going to miss in the years to come. But it was his 602 runs in the 2002 series that stood out and has been a record for any Indian batsman in England.

Dravid scored 602 runs in 6 innings at an average of 100.33. Kohli in the current England-India series is at 544 runs, needing just 49 more runs to break a 16-year-old record. Though he has played 2 innings more than Dravid, the current English line-up is far more superior than the one Dravid faced in 2002.

#2 Fastest to 10,000 ODI runs

Virat Kohli currently has scored 9779 runs in ODIs. He is on the verge of entering the 10,000 runs elite club sooner rather than later. Sachin Tendulkar holds the record of fastest player to reach 10,000 ODI runs when he crossed the mark against Australia at Indore in 2001 in his 259th inning.

Kohli needs 221 runs more to achieve the feat and given that he has only played 203 innings as of now, this record seems to be the one he can register on his name. India play 5 ODIs against West Indies in October-November and given his current form, Kohli can make it a series to remember by reaching 10,000 ODI runs.

#2 Most runs in T20 International

Martin Guptill is the highest run scorer in T20 cricket sitting at the top with 2271 runs. Virat Kohli is 4th on the list with 2102 runs to his name. Given that India will play six T20 Internationals against West Indies and Australia in November, 169 runs don’t seem to be too far for Kohli.

Guptill will also have a chance to extend the lead as New Zealand will play 3 T20s against Pakistan in October-November. But only a few will disagree that Kohli cannot have this record on his name come to the end of 2018.

#4 Fastest Indian to reach 7,000 test runs

Virat Kohli has scored 6098 Test runs in his career. He has 6 Test matches to play in 2018, obviously considering the fact that he stays fit throughout the year. Given that 2 Test matches will be played against West Indies on Indian pitches and 3 against Australia in conditions where Kohli has performed exceedingly well in the past, it won’t be a surprise if he reaches the 7000 runs mark in this calendar year.

Virender Sehwag has the record for fastest Indian to 7000 Test runs by scoring them in 134 innings. Kohli currently has played 120 innings. So the equation is pretty simple, 902 runs in 13 innings.

#5 Highest number of Test centuries in Australia by an Indian

The 2014 Australia-India Test series in Australia was a memorable outing for Virat. He amassed 692 runs, making him the highest scoring Indian in a Test series in Australia. Come 2018 December and he can register one more record to his name.

With 5 Test centuries in Australia, Kohli is second in the list of centuries made by Indians in Australia. Sachin Tendulkar holds the record with 6 centuries. Sunil Gavaskar is joint second with 5 centuries. Kohli will get maximum 6 chances to equal or break the record in 2018.