Kohli Fastest to 20,000 Runs, Breaks Lara & Tendulkar’s Record

Virat Kohli reached the 20,000 international runs in 417 innings.

India skipper Virat Kohli became the fastest batsman to score 20,000 international runs during the ICC World Cup tie against West Indies.

(Photo: AP)

India skipper Virat Kohli became the fastest batsman to score 20,000 international runs during the ICC World Cup tie against West Indies at the Old Trafford on Thursday, 27 June.

He reached the mark in his 417th innings, surpassing the joint-record of legendary Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar and West Indies great Brian Lara (453 each).

Kohli achieved the feat when he was batting at 37* in their sixth group stage match of the quadrennial tournament. Earlier, India had won the toss and opted to bat against the two-time champions.

Tendulkar and Lara, both had reached the milestone in 453 innings, followed by former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting who scored 20,000 runs in 468 innings.

Kohli became the 12th batsman to this landmark and the third Indian after Tendulkar (34,357 runs) and Rahul Dravid (24,208 runs). The 30-year-old run-machine has been in great form in the ongoing tournament. After getting out cheaply against South Africa in the World Cup opener, Kohli scored 82 runs against Australia, 77 against Pakistan and 67 against Afghanistan.

Interestingly, during the innings against Pakistan at Old Trafford on 16 June, Kohli also became the fastest batsman to score 11,000 ODI runs.