Virat Kohli is arguably the greatest cricketer of this era. However, at the moment, he is not in the best form. He has already quit his T20 captaincy and has his eyes set on breaking a few batting records. In this article, we take a look at five personal milestones Virat Kohli might target before retirement from international cricket.
Virat started brightly in his career. Initially, he was known to be a proper ODI batsman but later on, he adapted himself into a fine red-ball and T20 cricketer. He is also highly regarded for his chasing ability, which very few happen to master. His retirement could still be a few years away but we take a look at a few milestones he might target to achieve before he hangs up his boots.
1) 10000 runs in Test Cricket – One of the major milestones Virat Kohli might target before retirement
Although he took time to get going in Test cricket, especially outside Asia, once he settled into form, Virat Kohli became one of the best red-ball batsmen on the planet. However, the last few years have been hard for him. He was once looking likely to topple a few top records, but at the moment, Virat might have to reconsider his target. Assuming he has three to four more years in Team India at his peak, Virat will target to complete 10000 runs in Test cricket. At the moment, he is close to 8000, and the target of 10k runs is attainable.
2) 15000 runs in ODI Cricket
While Sachin Tendulkar scored 18000+ runs in ODIs, Kumar Sangakkara stands at No.2 on the list with 14324 runs. Virat is sixth on the list after having recently breached the 12000-mark. If not Sachin’s record, the current Indian skipper will surely target to get to 15000 runs. This way, he would stand just below Sachin in the list of highest run-getters in ODI cricket.
3) 50 Centuries in ODI Cricket – A realistic milestone Virat Kohli might target before retirement
A few years ago, it looked likely that Virat Kohli would break Sachin Tendulkar’s record of a hundred international centuries. However, Virat is stuck at 70 for around two years now. Hence, with him turning 33 in a few weeks, getting to 100 centuries could become hard. Therefore, he could instead try to achieve 50 centuries in ODI cricket and beat the record set by Sachin, who had scored 49 ODI centuries. Virat has 43 ODI centuries to his name right now, and getting to 50 is very much possible.
4) 30000 International runs
Sachin Tendulkar made a total of 34357 runs in International cricket. Till now, no other player has crossed 30000 runs in this category. Virat Kohli might try to achieve this. At the moment, he has scored around 23000 runs and with few more years to go, across all formats combined, he could target scoring 7000 more runs.
5) 1500 boundaries in ODI Cricket
Sachin Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya are the only cricketers to score 1500 or more boundaries in ODI cricket. Being the best ODI cricketer of this generation, Virat Kohli would certainly want to be on this list. At the moment, he has 1140 boundaries in 254 games. Even if Virat has three or four more years of chances in Team India, he could get to the mark.
