India's batting juggernaut Virat Kohli is just 75 runs away from stepping on a mega milestone as he is set to embark on his 500th International match in the second Test against West Indies in Port of Spain on Thursday (July 19).
Kohli will become only the 10th player to play 500 matches in his international career. Notably, batting great Sachin Tendulkar holds the record of featuring in most international matches i.e 664. Virat Kohli will be the fourth Indian to play 500 international matches after Indian players Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, and MS Dhoni.
Most International matches played:
Sachin Tendulkar - 664
Mahela Jayawardene - 652
Kumar Sangakkara - 594
Sanath Jayasuriya - 586
Ricky Ponting - 560
MS Dhoni - 538
Shahid Afridi - 524
Jacques Kallis - 519
Rahul Dravid - 509
Virat Kohli - 499 (will be playing his 500th International game soon)
If Kohli manages to score 75 runs in the second Test against West Indies, he will break battin legend Ricky Ponting's record of amassing most runs after 500 international matches. While Ponting scored 25035 runs after 500 international matches, Kohli has so far amassed 25461 runs in 499 international outings. As the 2nd Test of the West Indies is set to happen on July 20, Virat Kohli records the most runs after 499 international matches in his career.
Batters to score most runs after 500 International matches:
Ricky Ponting - Matches- 500, Runs-25035, Average-47.95, Century-68
Sachin Tendulkar - Matches-500, Runs-24874, Average-48.48, Century-75
Jacques Kallis - Matches-500, Runs-24799, Average-50.28, Century-60
Rahul Dravid - Matches-500, Runs-23607, Average-45.57, Century-47
Kumar Sangakkara - Matches-500, Runs-22592, Average-44.73, Century- 47
Mahela Jayawardene - Matches-500, Runs-20223, Average-40.21, Century-44
Sanath Jayasuriya - Matches-500, Runs-18889, Average-35.57, Century-39
MS Dhoni - Matches-500, Runs-16330, Average- 45.11, Century-16
Shahid Afridi - Matches-500, Runs-10889, Average-24.32, Century-11
Virat Kohli - Matches-499*, Runs-25461*, Average-53.48, Century-75
Kohli is also the first player to have played more than 100 matches for India across all formats (Tests, ODIs, and T20Is).
Talking about the ongoing Test series between India and West Indies, Rohit Sharma's brigade secured a resounding 141-run victory in the Test opener in which riding on spledin centuries from Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal. Kohli also played an impressive knock of 76 runs which came off in 182 balls with the help of 5 fours.
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