India skipper Virat Kohli became the first and only batsman to have scored 20,000 international runs in a decade during the team’s six-wicket win against West Indies on Wednesday (August 14). Kohli has scored 20502 runs in all formats out of which he has scored 20018 from 2010 onwards. Kohli made his Test and T20I debut in 2010 but had already scored 484 runs in ODI cricket by that point in the previous decade, having made his ODI debut in 2008. Kohli’s accomplishment takes him ahead of former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting, who held the record for the most international runs scored in a decade with 18962 runs in the 2000s.
“I have been around for a while. Experience counts in pressure situations, understanding where the game is heading and what I need to do in terms of the tempo of the game. “So you want to take a lot of pride in stepping up for the team as much as you can and I definitely take a lot of pride in that.” Having won the T20I series 3-0 and the ODI series 2-0, India will now take on the West Indies in a two-match Test series starting August 22 at North Sound, Antigua.
