India’s Test captain Virat Kohli has been recommended for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award by the BCCI. The Delhi player has led India to several memorable victories during the course of his career.
Kohli has also impressed as a captain, leading India to series wins against Sri Lanka and South Africa in 2015.
The Quint takes a look at Virat Kohli’s career through numbers.
Kohli vs Modern Legends in Tests
Virat Kohli’s biggest strength during his career has been his ability to convert starts into big scores. Kohli may be behind Rahul Dravid, Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar, when it comes to averages (after 41 Tests), but he certainly leads the way when it comes to hundreds.
Player of the World T20
Virat Kohli rocked the World T20 earlier this year. He almost single-handedly took India to the final of the tournament. While the top-order batsmen failed around him in the entire tournament, Kohli stood up and ensured India put up a fight with the bat.
The 27-year-old, who scored 273 runs in five matches in the World T20, was also named the player of the tournament.
Top-Scorer Since January 2012
Virat Kohli began ruling the cricket world since January 2012. Once he got his first Test hundred against Australia in Adelaide in the same month, Kohli moved from strength to strength.
He has scored the most amount of runs (8698) in the international circuit since then, beating the likes of Kumar Sangakkara and AB de Villiers.
Virat Leads the Way in ODIs
Virat Kohli certainly enjoys batting in the one-day format. When the Delhi lad reached 5000 ODI runs, he was the fastest (114 innings) to get there at that time. Now the record is held by South Africa’s Hashim Amla.
Kohli has scored more hundreds and runs as compared to Ricky Ponting, Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar after 171 ODIs.
Purple Patch in 2016
Virat Kohli has been in prime form right from India’s tour of Australia earlier this year. After leading India to a 3-0 T20 series win in Australia, Kohli’s heroics helped India clinch the Asia Cup and reach the semi-final of the World T20.
Kohli almost averages 100 in T20s (international cricket and IPL) in 2016 and also notched his first T20 hundred against Gujarat Lions, while playing for the Royal Challengers Bangalore.
(With inputs from Arun Gopalakrishnan)
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