Proven - Virat Kohli is the ultimate run-machine of the decade, here is proof

During the third ODI between West Indies and India in Port of Spain, Trinidad on Wednesday, the cricketing world witnessed a sight which they have gotten accustomed to in the last decade. Virat Kohli strides out, scores a century and guides the team home to a win. This blueprint and with the ease with which Kohli has done it on a consistent basis has made him the ultimate batsman of the modern era when it comes to ODIs. Kohli now has 43 ODI centuries and he needs seven more to break Sachin Tendulkar's tally of 49 centuries. Kohli has nine tons against West Indies, the most by any player and this was his 26th in a chase. 

However, during the course of his knock, Kohli created a new world record which put him in a different league of batsmen altogether. The Indian cricket team skipper became the first player in the history of cricket to smash 20000 runs combined in all formats during the course of a decade. Kohli has 20,502 runs across all three formats of the game and out of these, 20,018 has come in the ongoing decade. Kohli is the only batsman in the history of the game to score over 11000 runs in ODIs in the decade, breaking Ponting's tally of 9103 runs.

Before this, Australia’s former skipper Ricky Ponting held the record for scoring most international runs in a decade with 18,962 runs during the first decade of the new millennium. Kohli also has 97 fifty-plus scores in cricket and it has put him fifth in the overall tally, behind the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Kumar Sangakkara, Ricky Ponting and Jacques Kallis. 

With so many records established, Kohli is close to sealing the debate as to who is the greatest batsmen in the modern era. If he breaks Tendulkar's tally of runs, which is a big possibility, Kohli can cement his reputation as one of the greatest in the game of cricket.

South Africa all-rounder Jacques Kallis is on the third position with 16,777 runs in the 2000s. Sri Lankan legends Mahela Jaywardene and Kumar Sangakkara are fourth and fifth on the list of most runs scored in a decade with 16304 and 15999, respectively. Indian batting icon Sachin Tendulkar is sixth with 15962 runs in the 2000s while his teammate Rahul Dravid is seventh with 15853.

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HIGHLIGHTS

• Virat Kohli has broken Ricky Ponting's world record tally of runs in a decade.
• Kohli also has 97 fifty-plus scores in cricket and it has put him fifth in the overall tally.
• Virat Kohli has 20,502 runs across all three formats of the game.