Virat Kohli overtakes Kumar Sangakkara to become 3rd highest run-scorer in ICC Cricket World Cup

Virat Kohli scored 101 off 121 deliveries against South Africa in Kolkata.

Virat Kohli is on a record-breaking spree at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata against South Africa. Celebrating his 35th Birthday, Virat played a magnificent innings against South Africa to take India into a stable position after losing two big wickets right after the powerplay. With his innings, Virat Kohli has now jumped to 3rd place in leading run-scorers list of the World Cup. He is also in the line to become the leading run-scorer in the World Cup 2023. 

Virat Kohli has overtaken former Sri Lankan captain and wicket-keeper Kumar Sangakkara to become 3rd leading run-scorer in the World Cup. India’s chase master has gone past Kumar Sangakkara who had 1532 runs in 35 World Cup innings. Kumar Sangakkara played in four World Cups starting from 2003 to 2015. Virat Kohli will also have an opportunity to go past former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting. 

Sachin Tendulkar is the leading run-scorer in World Cup

Ricky Ponting is second in this list with 1743 runs in 42 innings. Virat Kohli in the next two to three games can overtake Ponting and become the second-leading run-scorer. Sachin Tendulkar is the leading run-scorer in the World Cup tournament with 2278 runs in 44 innings. Sachin Tendulkar played 6 World Cups for India from 1992 to 2011 and came out winning the cup in the 2011 edition under MS Dhoni. Kohli made his debut in that edition. 

Virat Kohli has also completed his 6000 ODI runs on Indian soil and stands 2nd behind Sachin Tendulkar who scored 6976 runs. He can also go on to become the leading run-scorer in the tournament as he has gone past the 500 mark in the World Cup 2023. South African wicket-keeper Quinton De Kock is the leading run-scorer currently with 550 runs in 8 innings. Virat needs to score 8 runs to become the leading run-scorer in the ongoing tournament.

India’s number 3 Virat Kohli added 134 runs with Shreyas Iyer for 3rd wicket to take India out of the crisis when South African bowlers dismissed Rohit Sharma (40) and Shubman Gill (23) in quick succession. Shreyas Iyer scored 77 runs in 87 balls with 7 fours and 2 sixes in his innings. Kagiso Rabada and Keshav Maharaj have bowled brilliantly to curtail the run-flow in Indian innings. India captain Rohit won the toss and elected to bat first.