When the Indian team will be taking the fielding in Paarl on Wednesday for the ODI series, It will be for the first time in seven years that Virat Kohli will be playing a game only as a player. But the focus will remain on Kohli, not just how he adjusts to the new role, but how the lessening of the captaincy burden will impact his batting figures.

Apart from the long-awaited 71st international century, Virat Kohli’s numbers in Test cricket have shown a significant dip. However, during the same period, Kohli has remained equally threatening in the ODIs, scoring 649 runs in his last 15 matches at an average of 43.36 and strike rate of 92.45, which include eight half-centuries.

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When Virat Kohli the batter walks at the crease during the three-match ODI series in South Africa scheduled to be commencing on January 19. On Wednesday, it will be 788 days since Kohli last scored his international century. While a 44th ODI ton will only bring him closer to Sachin Tendulkar’s all-time record in the format, it will also take his international tally to 71 centuries, placing him joint-second alongside Australian great Ricky Ponting.

The century will also place him joint-second alongside Sachin (5) and Quinton de Kock (5) for the most three-figure marks in an India-South Africa tie with AB de Villiers standing atop with six centuries, and joint-top alongside the legendary batsman for the most ODI centuries scored by a visiting batter in South Africa.

With 1287 runs, Virat Kohli stands eighth highest among batters with the most runs in ODIs against the Proteas and fourth among Indians. 26 runs more and Kohli week be surpassing the tally of Rahul Dravid (1309 runs) and Sourav Ganguly (1313 runs) to become the second-highest Indian run-getter after Sachin’s tally of 2001 runs. 

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Virat Kohli needs 171 runs to surpass both Dravid (930 runs) and Ganguly (1048 runs) to become the third-highest visiting run-getter in ODIs played in the Rainbow Nation after Sachin (1453 runs) and Ponting (1423 runs). He also needs 113 runs more to become the third Indian to have scored 1000-plus runs in four or more countries. He has scored 4994 runs in India, 1316 runs in England, and 1327 runs in Australia.