Centurion, Feb 20: India skipper and batting mainstay, Virat Kohli, has been in imperious form on the ongoing tour of South Africa, and the run machine is on the verge of creating another record.
The run machine needs just 130 more runs to surpass Sir Viv Richards' record of scoring most runs on a tour. Apparently, the former West Indies great is the only batsman to have scored 1000+ runs on a single a tour.
Sir Viv amassed a total of 1045 runs back in 1976 when he played four Tests and 3 ODIs on West Indies' tour of England. The legendary batsman plundered 829 runs in Tests and 216 runs in ODI to become first, and the only cricketer to date, to have top 1000 runs on a tour.
Second on the list after the former Windies captain, is the greatest cricketer ever Sir Don Bradman who scored 974 runs in five Tests against England during Australia's tour of England in 1930.
Kohli, so far, has scored 870 runs on this tour from 3 Tests, 6 ODIs and a T20I. The 29-year-old batting sensation requires just more 104 runs to surpass Don's record. And if he manages to score 130 runs more in the remaining two T20Is then he'll leapfrog Sir Viv Richards' and claim another record.
The charismatic skipper has already claimed several records on this tour and if he manages to score 1000-plus runs then it will be another cap in the illustrious career of the 'modern day legend'.
India will play the second T20I against South Africa on February 21 in Centurion, while the third and final game will be held in Cape Town on February 24. Looking at the kind of form the Indian skipper is in, scoring 130 runs in the remaining two T20Is isn't too much for the Delhi-lad to achieve. But in order to score these many runs, he will have to come up and bat deep.
Kohli had promoted Suresh Raina ahead of him in the first encounter and there is a probability that he might do just the same in the upcoming games as well to give the southpaw some confidence.