The Indian skipper, Virat Kohli became the first batsman in the history of T20Is to surpass the tally of 3000 runs in men’s cricket. He managed to attain the landmark in the second T20I between India and England at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday. Kohli was already the leading getter in the shortest format of the game in men’s cricket before the match.
Only two other cricketers have amassed more than 3000 runs in T20Is – both in women’s cricket. Suzie Bates (3301 runs) of New Zealand and Stafanie Taylor (3062) of the West Indies are the others to achieve this feat. Tweeting about Kohli’s achievement, BCCI wrote: “The first batsman to score 3️⃣0️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ T20 international runs 🙌🏻🔝”.
The first batsman to score 3️⃣0️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ T20 international runs 🙌🏻🔝
Whaddaplayaaa 👑👌🏻@imVkohli #TeamIndia 🇮🇳 #INDvENG @Paytm pic.twitter.com/C8zxhBjtmX
— BCCI (@BCCI) March 14, 2021
Virat Kohli played a match-winning knock of 73 runs off just 49 balls with the help of 5 fours and 3 sixes helped India level the five-match series 1-1 as they won the second T20I by seven wickets. Chasing a target of 165 runs to win the match, India managed to get over the line quite easily with more than two overs to spare.
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Kohli now has 3001 runs from 87 T20Is since making his debut in the format in Zimbabwe in 2010. Kohli also became the first Indian captain to score 12000 international runs as he just needed just 17 runs before this game to reach the landmark which he did in the 5th over of India’s innings. Only former Australian captain Ricky Ponting (15440) and South Africa legend Graeme Smith (14878) had achieved this milestone before Kohli.
However, in the second T20I, they executed those plans perfectly as debutant Ishan Kishan went on to score his maiden fifty at the top of the order. Kishan went slam-bang right from the start even as he lost his opening partner KL Rahul for a duck.
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Ishan Kishan smashed 56 off 32 balls with 5 fours and 4 sixes and helped India make the most of the Powerplay. Rishabh Pant then smashed 26 off 13 to take the match out of England’s grasp.
