Virat Kohli may have smashed one of the slowest fifty of his illustrious career, off 75 balls, but in due course, he set a few new milestones in the white-ball cricket.
Ace Indian batter Virat Kohli on Sunday showcased yet another class against Australia in the ICC World Cup 2023 campaign opener in Chennai. The men in blue were set a lowly 200-run target but hardly they knew that the start of the chase would be nightmarish. The duo of Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood reduced India to 2 for 3 in the first over, indicating a bizarre batting collapse. But Kohli joined forces with KL Rahul and pulled the team out of a precarious situation with a century partnership.
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The former Indian captain smashed one of the slowest fifty of his illustrious career, off 75 balls, but in due course, he set a few new milestones in the white-ball cricket. Kohli edged past Indian batting legend Sachin Tendulkar to score the most number of runs for the country in ICC events, including the ICC Champions Trophy, the ICC T20 World Cup and the 50-over World Cup.
Tendulkar is now second on the list with 2719 runs in 61 games. Rohit Sharma, who was dismissed by Hazlewood for a duck, stands third with 2422 runs in 67 games. Yuvraj Singh (1707 runs) and former captain Sourav Ganguly (1671 runs) are fourth and fifth on the list, respectively.
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Most Runs for India in ICC Events
| PLAYER | MATCHES | RUNS |
| Virat Kohli | 67 | 2765 |
| Sachin Tendulkar | 61 | 2719 |
| Rohit Sharma | 67 | 2422 |
| Yuvraj Singh | 72 | 1707 |
| Sourav Ganguly | 34 | 1671 |
At the same time, Kohli now has the most number of 50-plus scores while a non-opener in ODIs. With 113 fifty-plus scores, the 34-year-old went past former Sri Lanka captain Kumara Sangakarra’s tally of 112.
Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting is 3rd on the list with 109 fifty-plus scores while the likes of Jacques Kallis (102) and Inzamam ul Haq (88) follow next on the list.
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Most 50+ Scores as Non-Openers in ODIs
| PLAYER | MATCHES | 50-PLUS SCORE AS NON-OPNER |
| Virat Kohli | 275 | 113 |
| Kumara Sangakkara | 382 | 112 |
| Ricky Ponting | 369 | 109 |
| Jacques Kallis | 321 | 102 |
| Inzamam-ul-Haq | 366 | 88 |
Earlier, Ravindra Jadeja spun a vicious web around the Aussie batters, returning figures of 3-28 to help India bowl out Australia for just 199 in 49.3 overs. Electing to bat first on a pitch which looked dry and a little bit on the slower side, Australia were 110-2 in 27 overs, before Jadeja came in to cause havoc and get his three scalps in a span of two overs to break the back of Australia’s batting.
Kuldeep Yadav took two wickets while local lad Ravichandran Ashwin had a scalp to his name as spinners took six wickets in their 30 overs combined at an economy rate of 3.47.
For Australia, who played 173 dot balls in their innings, Steven Smith and David Warner managed to make 46 and 41 respectively. But there was no noteworthy knock from the rest of the batters until Mitchell Starc hit two fours and a six in his late cameo of 28.
(With Agency Inputs)
