Virat Kohli's ODI rankings at the end of each calendar year

Ever since making his international debut in 2008, Virat Kohli has overcome every single hurdle that came his way and now, he is easily the best batsman across all three formats. While it took him some time to adapt to the longer format, the right-hander adapted to the ODI format like fish to water.

In a matter of few months, Kohli, from being a rookie, went on to become one of the mainstays for India in the batting format. Over a decade later, he is the proud owner of most of the batting records in the format which include the fastest to score 10000 ODI runs and as many believe, Kohli can easily go on to break Sachin Tendulkar's record of 49 ODI centuries.

Currently, he has scored 10232 runs in 216 innings at an extraordinary average of nearly 60 with the help of 38 centuries, just 11 less than Sachin. With age on his side, one can expect Kohli to easily go past Sachin Tendulkar's records in the format.

The best evidence for Kohli's rise in the format is his rise in the ICC ODI rankings. Kohli finished 2009, the year in which he cemented his place in the side, in the 48th position and since then, there is just one-way traffic. He jumped 43 places in 2010 and ended the year in the fifth position and since 2011, he has not moved out of the top three in the ODI batsmen's rankings. He ended 2011 and 2012 in the third position and was second in the year-end ranking the next four years.

In 2017, he ended the year at the top of the rankings chart and continued his good run in 2018 and managed to end the year in a similar fashion.

Virat Kohli's progression in the ICC ODI batsmen's rankings through the years

The way he is batting, it won't be surprising if he ends 2019 at the top of the table as well. But, it won't be easy for him as he will be facing some stiff competition from his teammate Rohit Sharma, who is in a striking distance in the second place.