Kohli goes past Tendulkar for most runs by Indian in away ODIs

Paarl: Star batter Virat Kohli on Wednesday surpassed the legendary Sachin Tendulkar’s tally of 5065 runs to become the Indian player with most runs in away One-day Internationals.

He achieved the feat during the first ODI against South Africa here. Kohli made 51 off 63 balls, with the help of three boundaries. Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara (5,518) holds the top spot for most runs in overseas ODIs. When he reached 27, Kohli also went past former skippers Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid for most runs scored against the Proteas.

Succeeded recently by Rohit Sharma as India’s full-time limited overs skipper, Kohli came into the game with 1287 runs. Kohli now remains only behind Tendulkar, who has scored 2,001 runs against South Africa in ODIs, the most by any player across countries. In the overall list, Kohli is now the sixth-highest run-scorer against South Africa. Apart from Tendulkar, Kohli is behind Ricky Ponting (1,879), Kumar Sangakkara (1,789), Steve Waugh (1,581), and Shivnarine Chanderpaul (1,559).

Kohli shocked the cricket fraternity last week by announcing his decision to step down as India’s Test captain, a day after the team lost the three-match series 1-2.