Virat Kohli on cusp of becoming first player to score 3000 T20I runs

Virat Kohli is on the verge of becoming the first player to score 3000 runs in T20I cricket. Kohli, who is just 72 runs away from the iconic landmark, will look to achieve the milestone when India take on England in the first T20I of the five-match series at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. 

While Kohli continues to wait for his first century with the last ton for the Indian skipper coming more than a year ago, he would be looking to become the first player to touch a 3000-run landmark in T20 international cricket. 

Kohli is the leading run-scorer in T20I cricket with 2928 runs in 85 matches for India. In 79 innings in T20I cricket, Kohli has scored his runs at a splendid average of 50.48 and strike-rate of 138.43 including 25 fifties. The Indian skipper’s batting average is the second-highest in T20I cricket after Dawid Malan (minimum 800 runs).  

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The swashbuckling Indian batsman is 91 runs ahead of New Zealand’s Martin Guptill when it comes to scoring runs in T20I cricket followed by white-ball deputy Rohit Sharma, who has 2773 runs under his belt in 71 matches. 

Ahead of the match, Kohli said England are the team to beat in the shortest format of the game while adding the Eoin Morgan-led outfit is favourite to win the T20 World Cup. 

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“I actually think it's England who will be the team to beat. They're the number one side in the world and the prime focus will be on them in this World Cups. All the other teams will be wary of the strengths that they bring on to the park and every other team would agree with what I say: it's England who are the favourites and that will not change regardless of how they think - Virat Kohli doesn't agree that India will be favorites,” Kohli said in the pre-match press conference.