Five milestones Virat Kohli will reach in the next five years

One of the greatest cricketers of our generation, Virat Kohli breaks a record every time he goes out to bat. He is one of the most gifted players to have played the game of cricket.

Kohli has numerous records to his name: the fastest to 9000 ODI runs, the most number of One Day International hundreds while chasing (18), fastest to 30 ODI hundreds, first captain to score 10 international hundreds in a calendar year, fastest to reach 15000 international runs and many more.

He is only halfway through his career though and has to do a lot more to be spoken of in the same breath as Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, and Jacques Kallis. However, his hunger and drive keep him going, ensuring he never rests on his laurels.

On that note, here are five milestones that Kohli can reach in the next five years:

#5 75 international hundreds

Kohli made all the sporting headlines last week after hitting his 50th international hundred, only the 8th player in history to do so. He is in supreme form this calendar year and looks unstoppable in all formats.

He is still a long way behind Sachin Tendulkar's mark of 100 hundreds, but, in the next five years, could overtake Ricky Ponting to reach 75 international hundreds, which will put him in 2nd place on the list of most international hundreds.

India play an average of 25 ODIs, 10 to 12 Tests and 10 T20Is in a calendar year, giving Kohli ample time to score the 24 hundreds required to reach the milestone. He can also become the fastest player to 50 ODI hundreds.

Kohli is one of the most consistent players in international cricket right now and with his conversion rate, can easily reach 75 centuries in the next five years.

#4 15000 ODI runs

Kohli celebrates after completing 9000 runs in ODIs

If there is one record in cricket that will be never be broken, it will be Sachin Tendulkar's mammoth 18426 runs in One Day Internationals. Virat Kohli has scored 9030 runs so far in his career and was the fastest cricketer to reach the 9000-run mark in ODIs.

The Indian skipper is currently 18th on the list of most runs in ODIs, but he is climbing up the ladder fast. Only 11 cricketers have scored 10000 runs in ODI cricket and Kohli will be up there soon.

At just 29, he has a lot of gas left in his tank. Considering India play their average number of games (mentioned in the previous slide) in the next five years, Kohli will certainly have the opportunity to score another 6000 runs to reach the 15000 milestone.

If he can play at the highest level for another 10 years, Sachin's record too may be at risk.

#3 Most successful captain for India in Tests and ODIs

Can Kohli overtake Dhoni?

Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the most successful Indian captain in Tests and One Day Internationals, with 27 and 110 wins respectively. He is only behind Ricky Ponting for the most number of wins as ODI captain.

Virat Kohli is not far behind Dhoni in Tests. With 20 wins from 33 games, he is already the third most successful Test captain in Indian history. He needs only eight more wins to overtake Dhoni and become India's best ever captain in the longest format of the game.

Kohli has a win percentage of 64.81 (second best in the world after Steve Waugh) and if he remains the captain for another six to seven years, he will end up breaking Graeme Smith's record for most wins (53) as a captain in Tests.

In ODIs, Kohli has 33 wins from 43 games. He has the best win percentage as captain in ODI history (min. 40 games as captain). Dhoni has 110 wins and Kohli needs another 78 to overtake the former skipper.

#2 1000+ ODI runs in a calendar year most number of times

Kohli crossed 1000 ODI runs in a calendar year for the 5th time, in 2017

Scoring 1000 ODI runs in a calendar year is not a simple task. It needs consistency and skill. Only a handful of cricketers have achieved this feat.

Sachin Tendulkar holds the record for scoring 1000+ runs in a calendar year the most number of times. He has done it seven times in his career between 1994 and 2007. The current Indian captain has done it five times already (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 & 2017) and only Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Ricky Ponting are ahead of him.

Kohli is the only cricketer after former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly to score 1000+ runs four years in a row. The Indian captain is only 29 and needs three more good years to break Sachin's long-standing record.

Given his consistency and hunger, this will be a walk in the park for the Delhi lad. He may even end up with a lot more than seven. Very impressive indeed.

#1 Most international Man of the Match awards

Can Kohli overtake Sanath Jayasuriya?

Sachin Tendulkar has the most number of Man of the Match awards in ODIs (62) and Jacques Kallis has the most in Tests (23). Both formats combined, Sachin has the most number of Man of the Match awards in international cricket (76), followed by Sanath Jayasuriya (58) and Kallis (57).

Kohli, meanwhile, has 41 Man of the Match awards so far (25 in One Day Internationals, six in Test matches and 10 in Twenty20 Internationals). He needs 36 more to break Sachin's record.

Given his ability to win games single-handedly and perform well on away tours, Kohli has every chance of going past Sachin's record of 76 international Man of the Match awards.