Virat Kohli turns 36: A brief summary of his long list of achievements

November 5, 2024, marks a very special day for Virat Kohli and his beloved fans. On this auspicious day, the talented three-format batter turns 36. After an embarrassing 0-3 whitewash at home, Kohli remained in a positive frame of mind and was seen celebrating his birthday with his wife Anushka Sharma at his restaurant chain One8 Commune. 

The Indian star made his first appearance for India in 2008 and has since then grown in stature to become one of the living legends in world cricket.  With over 25,000 international runs across formats, Kohli remains a true match-winner for India and has bailed his side out of trouble on numerous instances in crunch situations.  

A technically sound batter with supreme levels of fitness, Kohli has the zeist and the competitive edge to exceed and outplay his opposition at any point during the game.   As the nation gets together to celebrate his 36th birthday,  we highlight some of the major achievements the Delhi-based batter has managed to achieve in his 16-year-long illustrious career. 

Milestone and records

• Kohli has registered 27134 runs across all three formats making him the fourth highest run getter in international cricket.
• Kohli has slammed 80 centuries in all three formats making him only the second batter after Sachin Tendulkar to have the most number of international centuries.
• Kohli has won 10 ICC awards, the most in the history of international cricket. 
• Kohli has won 21 Player of the Series awards across all formats. He also holds the record for the most Player of the Series awards in T20Is with seven. 
• Kohli concluded the 2023 ODI World Cup with a stagerring 765 runs, the most achieved by any batter in the World Cup history. 
• Kohli is known to have the record for being the fastest batter to get to 20,000 international runs. It took the star batter 376 innings and 417 matches to achieve this resounding feet.
• Kohli was the first Indian batter to reach 12,500 runs in T20 cricket.
• Kohli was the first Indian captain to led India to their first Test series win in Australia in 2018-19. 

Despite playing a crucial role in helping India triumph in the T20 World Cup final in June this year, Kohli's form has not been at his fluent best off late. In the recently concluded three-match Test series against the Black Caps, Kohli failed to cross 100 runs cumulatively and failed to play an innings of substance when the situation demanded him to do so.

Moving forward, Kohli has been picked up for the upcoming Border Gavaskar tour which is expected to commence later this month. Kohli has been short of runs in recent times and will have a lot to prove as gears up to face the mighty Aussie pace attack that will be armed to the teeth waiting to pounce on him. 

See also: Is it the right time for Virat Kohli to retire from international cricket?