Virat Kohli is just a step away from becoming the first Indian to achieve this feat

India batsman and captain Virat Kohli. (Photo Credit-AFP)


‘Run machine’ Virat Kohli is just a step away from writing history by becoming the first ever Indian batsman to score 2,000 runs in T20 International.

Virat has scored 1,983 runs in 57 T20I matches with an average of 50.84. He is just 17 runs shy of reaching the landmark of 2,000 runs.

If Virat manages to score 17 runs in the third and last T20I match at Newlands, Cape Town, on Saturday; he will become first from India and third International player to achieve this feat.

Notably, New Zealand opener Martin Guptill (2,188 runs) and former explosive Kiwi batsman Brendon McCullum (2,140 runs) have scored more than 2000 runs in the shortest format of the game.

From being heavily criticised to earning the title of the best batsman in the world by many cricket experts, India’s tour to South Africa has been bittersweet for Kohli.

Till now, Virat Kohli has scored 871 runs in three Test match, Six-One day International (ODI) match and two T20I matches. The 29-year-old cricketer needs just 129 more runs to score 1,000 runs in a single tour. A landmark that only West Indies cricket great Sir Vivian Richards was able to cross.

The former West-Indies player had scored 1,045 runs in four Tests and three ODIs against England in 1976.

Meanwhile, in the recently concluded ODI series, Virat scored 558 runs and became first ever player across the globe to score more than 500 runs in a series.