Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar. (Photo Source: BCCI)
With Virat Kohli having brought his T20I career to a fitting end post securing the T20 World Cup 2024 title in the Americas, he will have his eyes zeroed in on the 50-over and Test formats now.
The ace batter who kickstated his international career in 2008, has a record that is well within his grasp. With 26,942 runs in the bank already, Kohli needs just 58 runs to get to the 27,000-run mark. Sachin Tendulkar is as of now, the fastest to have reached 27,000 runs in international cricket, taking an aggregate of 623 innings.
If Kohli attains the aforementioned milestone in eight or fewer innings, he will not only be the fastest to the landmark but will also be the first batter in cricket’s 147-year storied history to have registered 27,000 runs in less than 600 innings.
Apart from Tendulkar, Kumar Sangakkara and Ricky Ponting are the other legends who have breached the 27,000-run mark.
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Afro-Asia Cup likely to be revived
The Afro-Asia Cup, a marquee event played between an Asian XI and an African XI, which has had just two editions in 2005 and 2007 up until now, has a chance of making a comeback with its renewal “being looked at again”, according to a report in Forbes, as quoted by NDTV Sports.
If the event is brought back into the mix, there may well be an opportunity for cricket fans around the world to witness the likes of Kohli and Babar Azam motoring on in the middle and a new-ball pair of Jasprit Bumrah and Shaheen Shah Afridi creating havoc in the opposition camp.
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The inaugural edition was tied 1-1 with the last ODI being a no result. The 2007 edition was a mix of three ODIs and as many T20Is, with the Asian XI clean-sweeping the 50-over leg and also winning the lone T20I.