India Vs. Australia: Virat Kohli Breaks 11-Year Streak With 78-Ball 63 in 3rd ODI

Virat Kohli, who scored 63 in the third One-Day International (ODI) between India and Australia on Wednesday, ended his 11-year streak of scoring an ODI hundred in every calendar year since 2009.

Since it was India’s final ODI of 2020, Kohli finished the year without registering a three-digit score in the 50-over format. The last time Kohli did not score a century in a year was in 2008, which was his debut year with the Indian national team. He scored his maiden ODI century in 2009 that came against Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens and since then, he had never failed to record a ton in any year until 2020.

In 2020, there have been fewer fixtures because of the underway coronavirus pandemic and it was one of the reasons behind Kohli’s infamous record. The 32-year-old ended 2020 with 431 runs in nine matches at an average of 47.88, including five half-centuries. Kohli, who has amassed 43 ODI hundreds in 251 matches, has registered 17 tons since 2017 - six in 2017, six in 2018, and five in 2019.

Meanwhile, 2020 hasn't been a great year for Kohli as India captain as Team India has lost five back-to-back ODIs – three in New Zealand and two in Australia.

Overall in 2020, Australia captain Aaron Finch is the current leading run-scorer in the ODIs with 673 runs in 13 matches at 56.08 ahead of teammate Steven Smith, who has scored 568 runs at an average of 63.11.

Kohli, who scored 89 and 63 in his last two innings, claimed a special record Wednesday at Canberra’s Manuka Oval. He became the fastest to complete 12,000 runs in the ODIs. Kohli bettered the previous record that was held by legendary Sachin Tendulkar, who got to his 12,000th run in his 300th innings, while Kohli needed only 242 innings. The Indian captain also holds the record for the fastest batsman (in terms of innings) to 10,000 and 11,000 runs in ODIs. He reached 11,000 runs in 222 innings and became the fastest to break the 10000-run mark by doing so in his 205th innings.

India and Australia will now face off in a three-match Twenty20 International (T20I) series, starting on Friday at the same venue of 3rd ODI – Manuka Oval.