Dubai: Senior batter Virat Kohli added another feather to his highly illustrious cap as he became India’s leading run-scorer in the ICC Champions Trophy history during the semi-final clash against Australia at Dubai International Stadium on Tuesday.
Kohli surpassed former India opener Shikhar Dhawan’s tally of 701 runs in 10 games from 2013 to 2017. Former India captain Sourav Ganguly is the third-highest scorer for India in the tournament with 665 runs in 13 matches from 1998 to 2004.
The 36-year-old reached the milestone during India’s chase of 265. Kohli achieved the feat in his 17th Champions Trophy match for India. He also completed his 74th ODI half-century in the match and surpassed Sachin Tendulkar’s record of most fifty-plus scores in ICC ODI tournaments. Kohli now has 24 fifty-plus scores in 58 innings while the legendary batter had 23 such scores in 58 innings in ICC ODI events.
In the tournament so far, Kohli struck a match-winning century against arch-rivals Pakistan in Dubai and has now carried his form to the knockout stage with a beautifully crafted knock after the early dismissals of openers Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma.
Coming back to the match, Australia skipper Steve Smith top-scored for the side with a knock of 73 runs while Alex Carey amassed 61 before India bowled out the ODI world champions for 264 in 49.3 overs.
For India, Mohammed Shami bagged three scalps while Ravindra Jadeja and Varun Chakaravarthy grabbed two wickets each.
