IND v AUS 2020: 'Clear that Virat Kohli is far ahead of Sachin Tendulkar' - Fans heap praise on Indian skipper after he reaches 12k ODI runs

Virat Kohli took 58 innings fewer than Sachin Tendulkar to reach 12,000 ODI runs

Indian captain Virat Kohli has become the quickest batsman to reach 12,000 runs in ODI cricket. He achieved the milestone in the third and final ODI against Australia at the Manuka Oval in Canberra on Wednesday (November 2).

In the first ball of the 12th over, Virat Kohli drove fast bowler Sean Abbott to mid-off and scampered across for a single to complete his 12,000th ODI run. In what sounds too good to be true, Kohli reached the milestone 58 innings quicker than second-placed legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar (300 innings).

The top 6 of the elite club is completed by Ricky Ponting (314) and the Sri Lankan trio of Kumar Sangakkara (336), Sanath Jayasuriya (379) and Mahela Jayawardene (399). Notably, Virat Kohli also holds the record for taking the fewest innings to complete 8,000, 9,000, 10,000 and 11,000 runs in the 50-over format.

At the time of publishing this piece, Virat Kohli has 12,019 runs at a phenomenal average of 59.29 in 242 ODI outings, including the second-highest tally of 43 hundreds. His numbers in the other two formats aren’t bad either. He has scored 7,240 runs and 27 hundreds in 145 Test innings, while being the highest run-getter in T20I cricket with 2,794 runs at an average of 50.8.

Virat Kohli’s recent captaincy record has not been great, though. He is on a seven-match losing streak, as he was beaten in his last five games for the Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL 2020 before losing the first two ODIs against Australia.

The Indian skipper has started on a positive note in the third and final ODI. It will be intriguing to see if he can lead by example and help India gain some momentum going into the 3-match T20I series and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

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Twitter reacts as Virat Kohli becomes quickest to 12,000 ODI runs