Indian captain and top ranked ODI (One Day International) batsman Virat Kohli scripted history on Thursday as he became the fastest cricketer to score 8000 runs in ODIs during his gallant unbeaten knock of 96 against Bangladesh in the semifinals of the Champions Trophy at Edgbaston cricket ground, Birmingham.
Kohli reached to the 8000-run mark in his 175th innings to go ahead of South African captain A B de Villiers who had taken 182 innings to reach to the milestone. Sourav Ganguly (200 innings) and Sachin Tendulkar (210 innings) are now third and fourth in the list.
Kohli, who came into the match with 88 needed to score 8000 runs, took a single off Sabbir Rahman to reach the milestone. Meanwhile, Shikhar Dhawan also became India’s highest run-getter in the Champions Trophy, surpassing Ganguly’s haul of 665 runs.
Thanks for your #AskCaptain question @anuragsinha1992, hope you were watching! @imVkohli has a message for you! pic.twitter.com/YmEUpNvWpj
— ICC (@ICC) June 15, 2017
Dhawan has so far amassed 680 runs from nine matches in two editions of Champions Trophy, including three centuries and as many half centuries. The second in the list is Ganguly with 665 runs followed by Rahul Dravid (627) and Tendulkar (441).
Dhawan surpassed Ganguly when he was on 32 during India’s run chase of 265 against Bangladesh in the second semi-final here. He went on to score 46.He also became the first batsman to score 300-plus runs in two different editions of ICC Champions Trophy -- 2013 and 2017.
Dhawan scored 363 runs from five matches to be adjudged the man-of-the-series in 2013 and has so far hit 317 runs from four matches in this ongoing edition. Dhawan’s highest score in the Champions Trophy till now is 125, which he scored against Sri Lanka in a Group B game in the ongoing edition of the tournament.
READ: CT 2017: 5 Indian players to watch out for against Bangladesh in semis
Congratulations to @imVkohli on reaching 8,000 ODI runs! He's done it faster than ANY other player, taking just 175 innings! #CT17 pic.twitter.com/nWclosQHVz
— ICC (@ICC) June 15, 2017
The Delhi batsman also broke Tendulkar’s record of being the fastest cricketer to score 1,000 runs in ICC One-day International (ODI) events. Dhawan took 16 innings to reach the landmark, eclipsing Tendulkar (18) and Ganguly (20).
With PTI inputs