Virat Kohli International Career: Virat Kohli became the second player in history to score 15000 runs in ODI cricket. He reached the milestone. He reached the milestone while scoring a century in the first of three ODIs against the West Indies in September 2026.
This is only the latest record-breaking stat in the amazing international career of Virat Kohli, who many would consider the greatest batter of the generation. The 37-year-old has been the heartbeat of Indian cricket, its players and its fans, for over 15 years.
From a plucky upstart and the captain of the World Cup-winning India U-19 side in 2008, to a talented youngster, a match-winner, and the new face of Indian cricket. A successful captain and now an elderly statesman. Virat has done it all for Indian cricket. And most importantly of all, he filled the hole that was left by the God of Cricket, Sachin Tendulkar.
No one can fully encapsulate the entire career of Virat Kohli in the blues and whites of the Indian Cricket Team, not to mention him being the greatest batter in the biggest franchise T20 tournament in the world, the IPL. But we would attempt to do that anyway. So, here is Virat Kohli international career in detail.
Virat Kohli International Career
Before The International Cap
Before going into the nooks and crannies of Virat Kohli international career, we must first take a look at his background before professional cricket. Virat was born to parents, Saroj and Prem Nath Kohli, on November 5, 1988, in New Delhi. The legendary cricketer has always stressed how much his father, a criminal lawyer by trade, influenced his early life.
Having started to play at the age of three, Kohli would eventually, under the tutelage of former Ranji player Rajkumar Sharma, make it to Delhi’s U-15 squad. However, it wouldn’t be until the untimely passing of his father that Kohli found the seriousness required to make it to the big stage.
At the time of his father’s passing, Virat was representing Delhi in the Ranji Trophy against Karnataka. He went on to bat the next day and scored a hard-fought 90.
Having started playing U-19 cricket for India in 2006, at the age of 17, Virat would eventually become the team’s captain by the time the team flew to Malaysia for the 2008 U-19 World Cup. Leading the squad, which included the likes of Ravindra Jadeja and Manish Pandey, Kohli led the side to a triumph in that competition, in the process becoming a well-known name in the cricketing world.
Early Years With The Men In Blue (2008-2010)
It is only now that we arrive at Virat Kohli international career. The 19-year-old, who had recently captained the U-19 side to a World Cup win, was surprisingly called up to the senior national team’s ODI squad for the Sri Lanka tour in August 2008. Due to injuries to several senior players, Kohli made his international debut in the first match of the series, opening alongside Gautam Gambhir.
While he made only 12 runs on a challenging track, Virat scored his first of many half-centuries in international cricket in the fourth match of the series. Later that year, he scored a century for India A against Australia in a tour match.
However, the young Kohli would not secure his place in the first team until the 2009 Emerging Players Tournament in Australia. He emerged as the Player of the Tournament, scored 398 runs in seven games at an average of 66.33, and even scored a ton in the final as India secured the title.
Having become a regular in the Indian Cricket Team’s ODI side, Virat Kohli scored his first international century on December 24, 2009, making 107 runs in a victory against Sri Lanka at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
In 2010, Kohli was named the vice-captain of a young team that travelled to Zimbabwe for a tri-series. During that series, he became the fastest Indian to score 1000 ODI runs. Even today, he is joint-second on the list alongside Shikhar Dhawan and right behind Shubman Gill.
Becoming A National Team Regular (2011)
After a dull end to 2010, when Virat was out of form during the Asia Cup that year, he bounced back to form at the start of 2011, scoring an unbeaten 87 in South Africa. This ensured him a place in the team for the 2011 ODI World Cup, where he would be a starter.
In the opening game of the competition, Kohli scored 100* against Bangladesh in Mirpur. And while the World Cup wasn’t a memorable one for him, he was part of the team that won the title after 28 years of waiting.
Later that year, he also made his Test debut in the West Indies, but did not find his footing and was dropped for a few months. But towards the end of the year, Kohli started impressing in all formats, scoring his first Test half-century against the Windies in November, and scoring a hundred against England and the West Indies in ODIs.
Emerging As One Of The Best In The World (2012-2015)
2012 is the start of what many consider the beginning of Virat Kohli’s time as one of the best batters in the world. He started the year off with a century against Australia in 50-over cricket, made regular match-winning half-centuries in T20Is, and even scored his first two tons in Tests against England and New Zealand at home.
He was India’s highest run scorer in the 2012 T20I World Cup, where he scored two half-centuries, including a 78* against Pakistan, and was a singular highlight in an otherwise disappointing tournament for India. Despite that, with five centuries in the format that year, Virat Kohli was named the ICC ODI Player of the Year in 2012
Australia toured India in the first half of 2013, and Virat scored a century in the first Test of a successful series for India, continuing his form from last year. We are now well into the phase of Kohli being the most reliable batter in the Indian Cricket Team, a linchpin of the side’s batting order.
During the 2013 Champions Trophy, which was the start of India’s dominant era in international and especially bilateral cricket, he scored a half-century in the semi-final against Sri Lanka and 43 in a shortened final against England.
Later that year, on a tour to the West Indies, Virat Kohli was named the captain of the Indian team. He even scored his first 100 as the skipper in India’s third game of the tri-series that also included Sri Lanka.
This was also the era when Kohli started breaking records on a yearly basis. He was also emerging as the best ODI batter in the world, at a time when one-day internationals were still seen as the most popular form of cricket.
Virat Kohli Runs
| Format | Matches | Innings | Runs | Average |
| Tests | 123 | 210 | 9230 | 46.85 |
| ODIs | 317 | 305 | 15109 | 58.78 |
| T20Is | 125 | 117 | 4188 | 48.69 |
Later that year came the iconic seven-match ODI series at home against Australia. Kohli had become the regular vice-captain of the national team. Against the Aussies, Virat made 344 runs at a staggering average of 114.66. In the second ODI of the series at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. The Delhi-native scored the fastest century for any Indian in Men’s ODI, reaching the three-digit mark in just 52 balls.
Towards the end of 2013, which was a crucial year in the career trajectory of Virat Kohli, he scored a Test hundred in South Africa.
We are now in 2014, and Kohli is a part of a new generation of international batters who would go on to become future greats. In fact, it was in this year that former New Zealand captain Martin Crowe coined the term ‘fab-four’ for the quartet of Virat Kohli, Steve Smith, Joe Root, and Kane Williamson.
This was the year Kohli started firing on all cylinders across all formats. He scored ODI hundreds in India, New Zealand, and Bangladesh, before travelling to Australia for the iconic 2014-15 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He scored four centuries in four Tests in that series, made 692 runs in eight innings at an average of 86.50.
In the same year, Kohli was also the highest run scorer in the 0214 T20 World Cup, where India lost to Sri Lanka in the final, but Virat made 319 runs in six games at a mind-blowing average of over 106.33. The baton held by Sachin Tendulkar for two decades had well and truly been passed on to Virat Kohli.
The 2015 international calendar began with the 2015 ODI World Cup. Now one of the best cricketers in the world, Kohli was the face of the Indian team, which went into the competition as the defending champions. Kohli scored a century in a win against Pakistan.
Both India and Kohli had decent tournaments on paper. The team made it to the semi-final, where they were thrashed by eventual winners Australia, while the player made 305 runs in eight games at an average just over 50. Otherwise, 2015 was not a highlight year for Kohli.
It was also clear by that point that despite being an excellent player of Tests and T20Is, Virat’s legacy would be defined by his ODI career. By the end of 2015, he had already scored 23 centuries in the format at just the age of 27.
The Peak Years (2016-2019)
Virat once again had a tournament to remember in the 2016 T20 World Cup, where he scored 273 runs in five games at an average of 136.50. India just missed out on the final, losing to eventual champions the West Indies in the semis. This year was also the start of the absolute peak of Virat Kohli’s career in terms of sheer numbers.
He scored over 1000 runs in Test cricket for the first time that year. In ODIs, he scored 738 runs in just eight matches played that year at an average of 92.37. This year, he also became the fastest Indian to score 5000 ODI runs, doing so in just 114 innings. This is one of many Virat Kohli records in international cricket
Around this time, he also became the first player to score double centuries in four Test series in a row, doing so against the West Indies, New Zealand, and England in 2016, and against Bangladesh in 2017.
We now arrive at 2017, and yet another IC tournament, the last Champions Trophy for the next eight years. Virat scored 258 runs across five innings at an average of 129 as India made it to the final, only to lose to arch-rivals Pakistan.
Having already been named the Indian Test captain at the end of 2014, Virat Kohli was now the Indian Cricket Team captain across all formats. He also became the fastest to score 15000 international runs this year, reaching the milestone in just 333 innings across all formats. Here is a short look at Virat Kohli Stats in ODI Cricket.
Check Out: Virat Kohli International Career
Virat Kohli ODI 1k-15k
| Runs | Innings Taken | Against | Venue | Date |
| 1000 | 24 | Zimbabwe | Harare | 05/06/2010 |
| 2000 | 53 | West Indies | Port of Spain | 08/06/2011 |
| 3000 | 75 | Sri Lanka | Adelaide | 14/02/2012 |
| 4000 | 93 | England | Ranchi | 22/01/2013 |
| 5000 | 114 | West Indies | Kochi | 21/11/2013 |
| 6000 | 136 | Sri Lanka | Hyderabad | 09/11/2014 |
| 7000 | 161 | Australia | Melbourne | 17/01/2016 |
| 8000 | 175 | Bangladesh | Birmingham | 16/06/2017 |
| 9000 | 194 | New Zealand | Kanpur | 29/10/2017 |
| 10000 | 205 | West Indies | Vishakhapatnam | 24/10/2018 |
| 11000 | 222 | Pakistan | Manchester | 16/06/2019 |
| 12000 | 242 | Australia | Canberra | 02/12/2020 |
| 13000 | 267 | Pakistan | Colombo | 10/09/2023 |
| 14000 | 287 | Pakistan | Dubai | 23/02/2025 |
| 15000 | 303 | Wet Indies | Thiruvananthapuram | 27/09/2026 |
This year also saw him score 11 hundreds across all formats, one short of the record in international cricket set by Sachin Tendulkar in 1998.
He then went and did it again in 2018, 11 centuries in a calendar year once again. This year gives us the statistical peak of Virat Kohli. The now Indian captain across all formats. In 46 matches across all formats, the now 29-year-old scored 2818 runs, the most by any Indian and the third-most all time. He made 1202 runs in ODIs at an average of 133.55, and 1322 runs in Tests at an average of 55.10.
Kohli was named the ICC Cricketer of the Year in 2017 and 2018, also winning the ODI Cricketer of the Year award for both years and the Test Cricketer of the Year in 2018. He became only the second player to win the Cricketer of the Year trophy twice, and the first to win the ODI Player of the Year title on three occasions, having first done so in 2012.
In the same year, he also became only the 14th player to make 10000 runs in ODI cricket, and he was the fastest to ever reach that milestone, doing so in just 205 innings. In fact, he would go on to break the record for every 1000 run mark in ODI cricket here on until 15k.
2019 rolled around, and Virat was still the best all-format batter in the world. For the seventh time in his career, he would score 1000 ODI runs in a calendar year, equaling Sachin’s record. In the 2019 ODI World Cup, Kohli scored 443 runs in nine innings at an average of 55.37. He also achieved his highest international score this year, 254* against South Africa in Pune.
The Pandemic Spiral (2020-2021)
We now enter arguably the least productive act of Virat Kohli’s international career with the start of a new decade in 2020. After scoring a century against Bangladesh in November 2019. Kohli would not score another international 100 for almost three years. In the limited international cricket he played in 2019, Virat failed to break the average of 50 in any format. This was also the first year since 2010 that he did not make atleast 1000 international runs.
The T20I World Cup, which was supposed to be played in India in 2020, shifted to 2021 in the UAE. Kohli, as the captain of the Indian Cricket team, broke several captaincy records. He has the eighth most international matches led with 213, of which he won 135, with a staggering win percentage of 63.88, the third highest in international cricket for someone who has atleast captained 150 matches.
However, the 2021 T20 World Cup would bring to an end the era of captaincy for the Indian Cricket team under Virat Kohli. The tournament was a disaster, as India lost a World Cup match to Pakistan for the first time and were knocked out in the group stage. This would result in Rohit Sharma succeeding Kohli as the Indian captain.
The Elder Statesman (2022-2024)
After two underwhelming years in 2020 and 2021, after which many considered that Kohli’s time in the national team was up, the now-veteran batter was about to remind everyone why he was one of the greatest to ever do it.
He first broke his century drought by scoring his first T20I ton against Afghanistan in September 2022. Then, he became the highest run scorer in the 2022 T20 World Cup, making 296 runs in six innings at an average of 98.67.
He made 781 runs in 20 T20Is; the most runs he has scored in the format in a single calendar year in his career. This year, during the World Cup, he also became the fastest player to score 4000 runs in international T20s, doing so in 107 innings.
2023 also saw him return to form in the other formats as well. This would be the last decent year Virat has in Test cricket, scoring two 100s in whites for the Men in Blue. India also hosted the 2023 ODI World Cup, a tournament they entered as the overwhelming favourites.
The Indians were in sublime form during this tournament, winning all their league games comprehensively. But the trophy was not written in the stars, as a shock defeat to Australia in the final ended the tournament in heartbreak and possibly extended the international careers of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.
Speaking of Kohli, he scored three centuries and six fifties in 11 matches in this competition, scoring 765 runs, the most ever in a World Cup campaign, at an average of 95.62. His ton against New Zealand was his 50th in ODIs. With that, he broke Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 49 ODI centuries.
Virat Kohli International Centuries
| Format | Matches | Innings | Centuries | High Score |
| Tests | 123 | 210 | 30 | 254* |
| ODIs | 317 | 305 | 55 | 183 |
| T20Is | 125 | 117 | 01 | 122* |
Retirement And The Final Push (2024-Now)
At the start of 2024, Kohli scored his 30th and final century in Tests, against Australia in Perth. And after a year of underwhelming form in the format, he would surprisingly announce his Test retirement in May 2025, ending his career in Tests with 9230 runs in 123 matches.
But this was far from the end of Virat Kohli’s international career. The elder statesman played only 23 international matches in 2024, but the year brought him something he had never won before, as India became the T20 World Champions once again this year, defeating South Africa in a tense final, in which Kohli was named the Player of the Match. After the final, he would announce his retirement from T20Is
Now only active in ODIs, 2025 saw Virat score multiple international hundreds once again, all of which came in his favourite format, ODIs. He made three ODI tons this year, the first and most important of which came against Pakistan in the 2025 Champions Trophy. That tournament, which India won fairly comfortably, saw Kohli make 218 runs in five matches at an average of 54.50.
Virat Kohli has expressed his want of representing India in the 2027 ODI World Cup. And so, he remains active in the format. In 2026, he has already scored two hundreds in nine matches, bringing his ODI 100 tally to 55 and his international centuries tally to 86. He is second on the all-time list of international centuries, only behind Tendulkar’s 100 hundreds.
His most recent ton on the international stage came in the recent ODI series against the West Indies, where he made 139* in the first match, leading the team to a fine victory.
We have already mentioned how Virat Kohli has been the fastest batter to score every 1000-run mark from 8k to 15k in ODI cricket. In fact, he is only the second player to make 15000 runs in the format after Sachin. But in an even more impressive record, he is the fastest player in international cricket to reach every 1000-run mark from 15k to 28k across all formats.
Check Out: Virat Kohli International Career
He stands second on the list of most runs in international cricket with 28627 in 565 matches. He also has the third most runs in international T20S, with 4188 in 125 games.
We would also be remiss not to mention the incredible IPL career of Virat Kohli. And while a detailed version of it will be left for another day, we will provide a quick recap here.
As a freshly crowned U-19 World Cup-winning captain, Kohli was roped in by the Royal Challengers Bengaluru for 30000 USD for the inaugural IPL season in 2008. He was fairly unimpressive in the first season of the competition, but showed glimpses of the player to come in the 2009 and 2010 seasons.
2011 was his first successful IPL season, as he made 557 runs in 16 matches. He also became the interim captain of the franchise for the first time. After a decent 2012, he was made the permanent team captain in 2013.
The team and its captain were about to enter their peak years, for now. 2015 saw the team make the playoffs and Kohli score 505 runs. But 2016 would bring arguably the most iconic season for a team and a player in the IPL, which did not end with a title win.
RCB was one of the best-performing teams in IPL 2016, finishing second in the league and eventually reaching the final. The Royal Challengers were on top for 75% of the match, but fumbled the win in the last 10 overs against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
As for Virat, he broke all the records that season, scoring a staggering 973 runs in 16 matches at an average of 81.08, and scoring four centuries and winning the Orange Cap.
RCB made regular playoff appearances under Kohli’s captaincy, but never reached the top of the mountain. Kohli scored 400+ runs in all but one year since 2014, failing to reach the milestone in 2022. The legendary batter gave up the team captaincy in 2022 to Faf du Plessis.
2023 saw a return to form for Virat, who made 639 runs that season. But it was in 2024 that the resurgence of the franchise started. They reached the playoffs in 2024 as Virat made 741 runs, winning the Orange Cap for the second time in the process.
In 2025, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru won the IPL for the first time, and Virat Kohli was the team’s highest run scorer with 657 runs in 15 games. The team and the player repeated the feat once again in 2026, as RCB won their second title in a row and Kohli finished the season as the side’s highest run scorer with 675 runs in 16 games.
Virat Kohli is by far the highest run scorer in the history of the Indian Premier League. He has played 283 matches in 19 seasons in this competition and has scored 9336 runs at an average of 40.42, and nine centuries, the most in IPL history. Here is a short look at Virat Kohli Stats in the IPL
Virat Kohli IPL Stats
| Season | Runs | Matches | H.S | Avg. | S/R | 50s | 100s |
| 2008 | 165 | 13 | 38 | 15.00 | 105.09 | 0 | 0 |
| 2009 | 246 | 16 | 50 | 22.36 | 112.32 | 1 | 0 |
| 2010 | 307 | 16 | 58 | 27.90 | 144.81 | 1 | 0 |
| 2011 | 557 | 16 | 71 | 46.41 | 121.08 | 4 | 0 |
| 2012 | 364 | 16 | 73* | 28.00 | 111.65 | 2 | 0 |
| 2013 | 634 | 16 | 99 | 45.28 | 138.73 | 6 | 0 |
| 2014 | 359 | 14 | 73 | 27.61 | 122.10 | 2 | 0 |
| 2015 | 505 | 16 | 82* | 45.90 | 130.82 | 3 | 0 |
| 2016 | 973 | 16 | 113 | 81.08 | 152.03 | 7 | 4 |
| 2017 | 308 | 10 | 64 | 30.80 | 122.22 | 4 | 0 |
| 2018 | 530 | 14 | 92* | 48.18 | 139.10 | 4 | 0 |
| 2019 | 464 | 14 | 100 | 33.14 | 141.46 | 2 | 1 |
| 2020 | 466 | 15 | 90* | 42.36 | 121.35 | 3 | 0 |
| 2021 | 405 | 15 | 72* | 28.92 | 119.46 | 3 | 0 |
| 2022 | 341 | 16 | 73 | 22.73 | 115.98 | 2 | 0 |
| 2023 | 639 | 14 | 101* | 53.25 | 139.82 | 6 | 2 |
| 2024 | 741 | 15 | 113* | 61.75 | 154.69 | 5 | 1 |
| 2025 | 657 | 15 | 73* | 54.75 | 144.71 | 8 | 0 |
| 2026 | 675 | 16 | 105* | 56.25 | 165.84 | 5 | 1 |
| Total | 9936 | 275 | 113* | 40.41 | 134.79 | 68 | 9 |
This also makes him the only Indian to have scored 10000 runs in T20 cricket. With 14218 runs in franchise, domestic, and international T20s combined, Kohli stands sixth in the list of most runs in the format.
Check Out: Virat Kohli International Career
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