Virat Kohli eyes 49th ton equaling Sachin's record against South Africa on birthday

NEW DELHI: Virat Kohli, the poster boy of World cricket is turning 35 years old today. The star, who made his debut in international cricket in 2008, has won many accolades so far. Since leading India to victory in the U-19 World Cup in 2008, Kohli has achieved huge feats in cricket.

To date, Kohli has scored 26209 runs in 514 matches for India across T20, ODI and Test formats. Recently in the ICC World Cup match against Sri Lanka, Kohli broke yet another record of cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar. Kohli scored more than a thousand runs in a calendar year in eight years. Sachin has achieved this feat seven times.

Kohli has scored more than 1000 runs in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018 and 2019. While Sachin achieved this milestone in the years 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2003 and 2007.

Kohli also holds the record of being the fastest player to complete 8000 to 13,000 runs in ODIs. Kohli also won the ICC's Sir Garfield Sobers Award for men's cricket in 2017 and 2018. India won 40 out of 68 matches under his captaincy in Test cricket.

Kohli has led India in 95 ODIs, with 65 wins, 27 losses, one tie and two matches ending in a draw. In the T20 format of cricket, Kohli has led India in 60 matches, with 30 wins and 16 losses. Kohli also holds the record of being the only player to score 3000 runs in ICC whiteball events.

He scored 1472 runs from 33 World Cup cricket matches. Kohli ranks fourth in the list of Indian players who scored the most runs in the tournament. He is the highest run-scorer in the T20 World Cup.

Today, India is going to face South Africa in the World Cup in Kolkata. This is the first time in his career that Kohli is playing on his birthday.