Indian captain Virat Kohli made yet another batting record his own when he became the fastest to reach the 12,000-run mark in ODI cricket.
Kohli achieved the milestone when his score was 23 in the third ODI against Australia in Canberra. He took only 242 innings to reach the milestone, 58 innings faster than former India cricketer Sachin Tendulkar. Kohli is only the second Indian cricketer to score 12,000 runs in ODI cricket. Sachin Tendulkar held the record for being the fastest to the landmark for 17 years.
Kohli reached the mark in the first ball of the 12th over when he took a single off pacer Sean Abbott. He went on to add 40 more to his score after that and finished with 63 and was caught behind by Alex Carey off Josh Hazlewood, who’s dismissed him in all the three ODIs in the series.
Ricky Ponting (314 innings), Kumar Sangakkara (336 innings) and Sanath Jayasuriya (379 innings) round up the top five.
The right-hander is the fastest batsmen to 8,000, 9,000, 10,000 and 11,000 ODI runs, and the rate at which he's going, the chances are he will be the fastest to 13,000, 14,000 and beyond.
Kohli, who has scored 43 centuries in ODI cricket, averages just a shade under 60 in the format.
In the ongoing ODI series, Kohli has registered scores of 21 and 89 in the games at Sydney, where India were beaten comprehensively by the hosts.
Earlier in the day, Kohli won the toss in Canberra in the third and final ODI and opted to bat first against Australia, who lead the series 2-0.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)