Virat Kohli surpasses Kumar Sangakkara, becomes first cricketer to achieve huge record in international cricket

Team India batter Virat Kohli broke another significant record on Thursday, December 28, becoming the first batter to score 2,000 international runs in seven different calendar years.

The 35-year-old achieved the feat during his knock of 76 in 82 balls in the second innings of the Centurion Test against South Africa, breaking Sri Lankan great Kumar Sangakkara’s record, who scored 2,000 or more runs in six different calendar years.

India went down to South Africa by an innings and 32 runs in the first Test at the SuperSport Park in Centurion. They were bowled out for 245 and 131 in their two innings, while the Proteas scored 408 in the only innings they needed to bat in.

Apart from KL Rahul, who scored a first-innings hundred, Kohli was among the few positives for India in an otherwise disappointing show. The latter scored 38 in the first innings and followed it up with a half-century in the second even as all the other Indian batters struggled.

Following his batting efforts in Centurion, Kohli ended 2023 with 2048 international runs in 36 innings at an average of 66.06 with eight hundreds and 10 fifties. The 35-year-old scored over 2000 runs in international cricket in a calendar year for the first time in 2012, when he notched up 2186 runs in 46 innings at an average of 53.31 with eight hundreds and 10 half-centuries.

Subsequently, the right-hander batter scored 2,286 runs in 2014, 2,595 runs in 2016, 2,818 runs in 2017, 2,735 runs in 2018, and 2,455 runs in 2019.

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Virat Kohli’s brilliant 2023

After a prolonged lean patch in international cricket, Kohli rediscovered his form during the second half of 2022, smashing his first ton in over 1000 days.

He was superb in 2023, especially in the one-day format. Kohli hammered 1377 runs in 24 ODI innings at an average of 72.47 and a strike rate of 99.13 with six hundreds and eight fifties.

The former India captain had a record-breaking ODI World Cup at home in which he smashed 765 runs in 11 innings at an average of 95.62 and a strike rate of 90.32 with three hundreds. During the tournament, he also broke Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 49 ODI hundreds.

Kohli also did well in Tests in 2023, scoring 671 runs in 12 innings at an average of 55.91 with two hundreds and two fifties.