Asia Cup 2023: Virat Kohli becomes fastest to reach 13000 ODI runs during Pakistan vs India Super 4 clash

Star India batter Virat Kohli once again unleashed his wrath on Pakistan during the Super 4 fixture of Asia Cup 2023 on Monday, 11 September at R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo. During his stupendous innings, Kohli added another feather in his cap as he became the fastest player to reach 13,000 runs in ODIs reaching the landmark in just 267 innings. Kohli left behind his cricketing idol Sachin Tendulkar who had completed the milestone in 321 innings.

Notably, the batting sensation is the fastest player to score 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12k runs in the format. Furthermore,  Kohli also registered his 112th 50+ score in the format only behind Kumar Sangakkara (118) and Sachin Tendulkar (145). The former India captain played a scintillating innings of 122* off 94 balls smashing nine fours and three sixes in his innings.

The 34-year-old is the fifth-highest run-scorer in ODIs with 13,024 runs to his name from 278 matches at an average of 57.62 and a strike rate of 93.85. He’s just two hundreds away from levelling Tendulkar’s another record of most hundreds in ODIs. Kohli currently has 47 hundreds to his name and needs two more hundreds to level Tendulkar’s world record.

KL Rahul shines on his comeback

Meanwhile, Kohli got great support from KL Rahul who also scored a brilliant hundred  (111* off 106) on his comeback to international cricket. The 31-year-old has been out of action ever since he suffered an injury while fielding during match 43 of IPL 2023 between Lucknow Super Giants and Royal Challengers Bangalore in Lucknow. The Bangalore-born cricketer underwent a successful surgery and made a comeback to the team for the Asia Cup 2023 after his rehabilitation.

Kohli and Rahul got involved in a massive 233-run partnership off 193 balls and helped India reach a monumental score of 356/2 in their allotted 50 overs. Shadab Khan (1/71) and Shaheen Afridi (1/79) were the only two bowlers amongst the wickets for Pakistan as they had a forgettable day in the middle.