Kohli@500 - Another Achievement for the Milestone Man

At Port of Spain in the second Test against the West Indies, Virat Kohli played his 500th International match. It was Kohli’s 111th Test match. With 274 ODIs and 115 T20Is under his belt, Kohli became the fourth Indian cricketer to reach this mark. Sachin Tendulkar (664), MS Dhoni (538) and Rahul Dravid (509) are the other three.

Like many other cricket players in India, Sachin Tendulkar was Kohli’s inspiration in his formative years. The famous Sharjah series was always fresh in young Kohli’s mind who started playing tennis ball cricket as a kid in his neighbourhood and then joined the West Delhi cricket academy as a nine-year old in 1998.

Incidentally, after 499 games, Kohli outscores his idol by 622 runs, has a healthier batting average, equal number of centuries (75) and 17 more half centuries. Tendulkar had scored 24,839 runs at an average of 48.51 with 75 tons and 114 half centuries. Kohli has scored 25,461 at an average of 53.48 and 131 half centuries and has registered his 76th ton in the remarkable 500th match. Kohli also stands second after only Tendulkar with most runs in international cricket for India.

Kohli’s 121 run-knock in the 1st innings of the ongoing Test match has made him the batter with most centuries after reaching 500 Tests going past Sachin Tendulkar’s 75. Two more greats find a mention in the list with the likes of Ricky Ponting (68) and Jacques Kallis (60).

Kohli has had a remarkable cricket journey from the Under-19 level. He was picked for the India under 19 team to tour England in 2006 and his performances for the Delhi age group team prompted the selectors to appoint him as the skipper of the Indian team for the U-19 World cup in 2008. It was a successful campaign for Kohli both as a batter and skipper as he scored 235 runs, picked 2 wickets and lead the team to victory.

Kohli was then picked for the India emerging team to tour Australia for a quadrangular series. In a game against New Zealand, Kohli was asked to open the innings replacing Ajinkya Rahane. Kohli scored a fluent unbeaten 120 to help the team chase 249 with nine overs remaining. Dilip Vengsarkar, then chief selector of the Indian senior team witnessed the knock and picked Virat Kohli for India on their tour of Sri Lanka where Kohli scored his maiden half century in his 4th game.

A year later Kohli had another moment of glory against Sri Lanka as he notched his maiden ODI hundred in a winning cause at Eden Gardens adding 224 runs with Gautam Gambhir who famously gave away his player-of-the-match award to young Kohli who was also his Delhi teammate. Kohli was picked for the 2011 World cup and became the first Indian to score a hundred on World cup debut as he scored an unbeaten 100 against Bangladesh in the first match and was part of a great batting order which went on to lift the cup.

Kohli was handed a Test debut in Jamaica against the West Indies in June 2011. On the tough 2012 tour of Australia, Kohli hit his maiden Test century in Adelaide. In the triangular series that followed, Kohli proved his mettle hitting an unbeaten 133 in only 86 balls against Sri Lanka, his ninth ODI ton, to keep India alive in the series. It was only the second occasion in the history of ODIs where a team has chased a total of over 300 inside 40 overs. The match had put Kohli on the pedestal as he was then looked as the future of Indian cricket.

Kohli proved the pundits right in the 2012 Asia cup fixture against Pakistan scoring his career best 183 to chase another 300 plus total; getting the title of ‘chase master’. The good run of form continued across formats until the English tour of 2014 where he failed to go past 39 in Tests and 40 in ODIs. It was a rare slump for Kohli who got out against the swinging ball outside the off stump on most of the occasions. Since then, it’s been an inspiring journey as the Delhi lad worked hard on his fitness and mind, becoming one of the world idols in the global sporting arena.