Virat Kohli scored his first century against Australia in Australia today © AFP
Melbourne: Star Indian batsman Virat Kohli on Sunday became the fastest to register 24 hundreds and pile up 7,000 runs in One-Day Internationals (ODI), surpassing the twin milestones in just his 161st innings. The top-order batsman got the better of the Australian bowling attack at the hallowed turf of the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) with a run-a-ball knock that was laced with seven fours and two sixes. During his well-paced effort, Kohli left his idol and cricket icon Tendulkar far behind in terms of the quickness in the number of centuries and runs scored so far. Tendulkar got to his 24th ton in his 219th innings while scoring 7000-plus runs in 189 innings. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: India vs Australia 2015-16, 3rd ODI at MCG
The quickest to 24 centuries list has some big names in former Australian captain Ricky Ponting (278) and Sri Lankan greats Sanath Jayasuriya (370) and Kumar Sangakkara (378), but none comes close to Kohli. Coming to the crease after the fall of Rohit Sharma (6), Kohli got the 7000-run mark early in the innings after scoring a boundary off James Faulkner in the 10th over. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: India vs Australia 2015-16, 3rd ODI at MCG
The 27-year-old left behind South African run-machine AB de Villers (166) in terms of getting to the landmark early. Former India captain Sourav Ganguly (174), West Indian legend Brian Lara (183), former Caribbean batsman Desmond Haynes (187), South African great Jacques Kallis (188) and Tendulkar (189) also got the 7000-run mark early in their respective careers, but stand way behind Kohli. READ: Virat Kohli ton propels India to imposing total of 295-6 against Australia in 3rd ODI at Melbourne
India’s Test captain also stitched a 119-run second wicket partnership with Shikhar Dhawan, which was also an Indian record at MCG beating the previous best of 101 between Sunil Gavaskar and Dilip Vengsarkar in January 1981.