Internet Desk: Normally known as a ‘run machine’, India skipper Virat Kohli showed his class again on Sunday against Sri Lanka in the first ODI by scoring another quick fire half-century which helped the side to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match ODI series. By doing so the Delhi batsman is in touching distance of yet another milestone in his limited overs career.
Kohli played a knock of 82* runs in just 70 deliveries to share a 197-run partnership with India’s star opener Shikhar Dhawan which led the visitors to the victory at Dambulla.
Kohli is just 45 runs behind South Africa captain Faf Du Plessis and 16 behind England batting maestro Joe Root to become the most run scorer in ODIs in the current calander year. Kohli’s last knock helped him to get past England’s limited overs skipper Eoin Morgan to reach the top three of the list.
The India skipper has scored 769 in 14 matches in 2017, on the other hand Faf has 814 runs in 16 games and Root 785(14matches). Though Kohli’s average is far better than the other two batsmen. He has an astonishing average of 96.1 which is much more compared to Root’s 71.3 and Du Plessis’ 58.1.
With four ODIs still to be played in this series, Kohli has an ample time to overtake these two modern day greats to become the leading run scorer in ODI in the current calendar year. Kohli can hold the spot for a time being as England will play their next ODI against West Indies on September 19 and the Proteas will play their next ODI against Bangladesh on October 11.
Kohli is known as a master while chasing any score. In his last seven innings, Virat has scored 726 runs which included three tons and four half centuries when India was chasing the target.
The Men in Blue play the second ODI against the Islanders at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Kandy on Thursday.