Virat Kohli may not be having the best of times with the bat in recent times but he is closing in on another record in international cricket.
The Indian captain is just 133 runs short of the 12,000-run mark in ODIs and could become the fastest batsman to reach the milestone, breaking Sachin Tendulkar’s record if he manages to score those runs in the upcoming three-match series against South Africa in India.
Kohli has scored 11,967 in 239 innings in his ODI career and is on course to break Tendulkar’s record comfortably. Tendulkar needed 300 innings to reach 12,000 runs in the 50-over format.
Australian great Ricky Ponting is next on the list, needing 314 innings to score 12,000 runs while Kumar Sangakkara is third having reached the mark in 336 innings.
Apart from the record, Kohli would like to get back among the runs after a forgettable tour of New Zealand. The Indian captain scored just 75 runs in three ODI games and managed only 38 runs in the two Test matches as India lost the two series 3-0 and 2-0 respectively.
Despite, a rare sticky spell for Kohli, one would expect the Indian captain to bounce back and reach the milestone in the upcoming series. However, South Africa won’t make it easy for Kohli after getting their confidence level up thanks to a 3-0 series victory over Australia.