NewDelhi: Right now it appears a Herculean task but Virat Kohli definitely has it in him to surmount the odds.
The India captain needs 129 runs in the third and last T20I against South Africa on Saturday to become only the second batsman in the history of the game to score 1,000 international runs on a single tour.
Kohli, who scored 286 and 558 runs in the preceding Test and ODI series, looked on course for the fulfillment of the milestone ahead of the T20I rubber, however, scores of 26 and 1 in the first two games undermined his chances a great deal.
The odds are heavily stacked against him but it’s certainly not beyond his capabilities. For proof, look no further than the ODI series earlier this month where he got three centuries and in the process became first batsman to score 500 or more runs in a bilateral 50-overs series.
To date, the only batsman to score 1,000 international runs on a single tour is West Indian great Sir Vivian Richards who scored 1,045 runs across four Tests and three ODIs against England in 1976.
The great Donald Bradman could have been the first batsman to get there but he fell just 26 runs short in the 1930 Ashes.
Kohli’s chances aside, India – at Cape Town’s Newlands – look to win their second successive limited-overs series in South Africa having already claimed the ODI rubber 5-1.
Bureau Report
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