You can’t not be aware of Virat Kohli’s near-unreal achievements even if you don’t follow cricket closely. It’s been that sort of a year for the Indian skipper both as a leader and a player that he’s made a mockery of all records possible. We look back at the 29-year-old’s 2017 as he reportedly prepares to kickstart a new innings personally as well.
1. Fastest to 9,000 runs
The home series against New Zealand saw Virat power his way through to 9,000 ODI runs. It took him just 194 innings to achieve the feat with AB de Villiers’ 205 the next best.
2. 32 ODI hundreds
The series also saw him surpass Ricky Ponting’s tally of 30 ODI tons as he now sits only behind Sachin Tendulkar’s 49 in the 50-over format of the game. Our money’s on him coming very close to that one, too.
3. Most double centuries as captain
The former Under-19 captain carried the same form into the longer format as he smashed three centuries in as many Tests against the visiting Sri Lankan team, including two consecutive double hundreds. He now has six double hundreds, the most by any captain ever.
4. Joint highest double centuries
With his sixth double ton, at his home ground, the Delhi dasher equaled Sachin and Virender Sehwag for the most double centuries by an Indian.
5. Putting 11 in 2017
At the end of an unbelievable series against the Lankans, Virat totalled 11 hundreds for the calendar year, the joint second most by any batsman. Only Sachin (12) has more.
6. Marathon cricketer
The series also saw him cross 600 runs for an unprecedented third time in a series. Sunil Gavaskar and Rahul Dravid had both done so twice.
7. 5kakewalk
With this, Virat has now become the fastest captain to reach 5000 runs in the history of the game (all three formats combined), overtaking Ricky Ponting in the process. He now has scored the highest number of runs as the skipper in ODI cricket.
8. Most runs by an Indian
Having decided to sit out of the ongoing ODI and T20 leg against Sri Lanka, Virat ended his 2017 with the highest aggregate by an Indian batsman with 2,818 international runs across formats. Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara (2868) leads the pack while Ricky Ponting is second with 2833 in the year 2015.
9. Best captain
Virat has been the most successful Indian captain in his tenure so far. In fact he joined Ricky Ponting for the most number of consecutive series wins after his team defeated Sri Lanka 1-0 in the three-match Test series. India have now joined Australia and England with nine successive series wins. England recorded nine straight series triumphs from 1884 to 1892 as the Aussies did it in the previous decade.
10. Winning at life
Off the field, Virat is has been rumoured to tie the knot with the actress and his long-time girlfriend Anushka Sharma. That’s supposed to be the reason why the captain is off duty at the moment and has flown to Italy with his partner. If true, we wish the couple a happy married life. What better way to cap off a dream 2017 for Virat!
