Virat Kohli On Cusp Of Yet Another Historic T20I Landmark

Virat Kohli has been in sensational form in South Africa and on a record-breaking spree. The Indian captain led India to a historic 5-1 ODI series win, their first on South African soil, and in that series broke a plethora of batting records. Kohli might not have set the stage alight in the Twenty20 international series against South Africa but is still in a position to make history when India face the Proteas in the third and final T20I on Saturday at Newlands in Cape Town. The Indian run-machine is just 17 runs short from becoming the first Indian to score 2,000 T20I runs and the third overall.

Kohli has scored 1,983 runs in 57 T20Is at an average of 50.85. While the Indian skipper has no T20I hundreds, he has scored a whopping 18 half-centuries.

Kohli currently sits third in the all-time list of top run-getters in T20Is. New Zealand duo Martin Gutptill and Brendon McCullum are one and two, respectively. Guptill has scored 2,271 in 75 matches at an average of 34.40 while McCullum has 2,140 runs in 71 matches at an average of 35.66.

Both the New Zealanders have two centuries each to their name. However, Kohli pretty much surpasses Guptill and McCullum in all other categories barring the hundreds column. Kohli has a better average, the only player in top 20 to average over 50, and more half-centuries than the other two.

But what is more astonishing is that Kohli has a better strike rate than both New Zealanders, who are viewed as two of the most destructive batsmen in world cricket.

Kohli has a strike rate of 137.32, Guptill's strike-rate is 132.88 while McCullum is marginally behind Kohli with a strike-rate of 136.21.

South Africa was being viewed as an acid test for the Indian run machine, and not only has he passed that test but aced it.

Before the 2nd T20I, Kohli was 130 runs away from scoring 1,000 runs in total in South Africa, which would make him only the second batsman in the history of cricket to do so on an international tour.

The Indian skipper was the top run-getter in the Test series with 286 runs and then became the first ever batsman to score 500 runs in a bilateral series, ending with a mammoth 558 runs. In the first T20I in Johannesburg, Kohli managed 26 taking his aggregate on the South Africa tour to 870.

Only West Indian legend Viv Richards has managed to score 1,000 or more runs on an international tour, achieving the feat in 1976 when he plundered a total of 1,045 runs on West Indies' tour to England.

The West Indian great had scored 216 runs in ODIs and a whopping 829 runs in four Tests.

But the Indian skipper was dismissed for just one in the second T20I at SuperSport Park, Centurion, leaving him with a mountain to climb in the deciding T20I.