Advertisement

Virat Kohli, on Friday, March 26, created another record as he surpassed former South Africa captain Graeme Smith in the list of most runs as captain in ODI. The Indian captain needed just 41 runs to climb up to the fifth spot in the list, and he went on to score 66 in 79 balls during India's 2nd ODI against England in Pune.

It was during the 1st ODI that Kohli had become the fastest player to score 10000 runs across all formats on home soil, and on Friday, he scored his 62nd half-century in the 50-over format. This was not only his ninth ODI half-century against England but was also his fourth consecutive outing where he scored 50-plus runs. What's more fascinating is the fact that this is the fourth instance where Kohli has scored four consecutive fifties in ODI cricket.

As far as his record as a captain is concerned, he surpassed Smith who had scored 5,416 runs as captain. The Indian captain now has 5442 runs to his name as a skipper and is significantly short of former Australia captain, Ricky Ponting, who had scored 8497 runs in his 230 ODIs as captain.

Most runs in ODI as captain

Player Matches Runs Average  Strike Rate 100s 50s
Ricky Ponting 230 8497 42.91 83.41 22 51
MS Dhoni 200 6641 53.55 86.21 6 47
Stephen Fleming 218 6295 32.78 70.84 7 38
Arjuna Ranatunga 193 5608 37.63 77.97 4 37
Virat Kohli 94 5442 73.54 98.33 21 27

Kohli has the best average and strike in the list of top 5. He is, in fact, the only player to have batted at an average of more than 70 and a strike rate of more than 90. Meanwhile, the Indian captain is on the cusp of creating another record. As the 3rd ODI beckons, he is just 13 runs away from scoring 5000 ODI runs on home soil. If he does that in the final ODI, he will join the elite list comprising of Sachin Tendulkar (6976), Ricky Ponting (5406), and Jacques Kallis (5178) who have scored more than 5000 ODI runs at home.

Feature image courtesy: AFP / Punit Paranjpe

Advertisement