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Virat Kohli joins Tendulkar, Ponting in elite club with historic comeback in VHT

Rajgeeta Yadav

Virat Kohli [Source: @GarhManmohan/X.com]Virat Kohli [Source: @GarhManmohan/X.com]

India’s batting talisman Virat Kohli made a memorable return to domestic cricket after nearly 15 years as he played in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, India’s premier 50-over domestic tournament. 

Notably, Kohli turned out for Delhi in their opening match against Andhra Pradesh at the BCCI Centre of Excellence Ground 1 in Bengaluru on Wednesday, December 24. 

His comeback was special not just because of his return, but also because it helped him achieve a major milestone in his career.

Virat Kohli becomes 2nd Indian to score 16, 000 runs in List A

Batting at number three, Virat Kohli came to the crease while chasing a target of 299 runs set by Andhra Pradesh. Before the match, Kohli was just one run short of reaching 16, 000 runs in List-A cricket, which includes domestic one-day matches and ODIs. 

As soon as he scored that run, he became only the 9th player in the world to cross the 16, 000-run mark in this format.

With this achievement, Virat Kohli joined an elite group of legendary cricketers such as Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Kumar Sangakkara, Sir Vivian Richards, Sanath Jayasuriya, Graham Gooch, Graeme Hick, and Gordon Greenidge. 

It is worth mentioning that among Indian batters, Sachin Tendulkar leads the list with 21,999 runs, while Kohli now stands second with over 16,000 runs in just 330 innings. 

Here is how some top Indian batters compare in List-A runs:

  • Sachin Tendulkar: 21,999 runs in 538 innings
  • Virat Kohli: 16,000+ runs in 330 innings
  • Sourav Ganguly: 15,622 runs in 421 innings
  • Rohit Sharma: 13,758 runs in 338 innings
  • Shikhar Dhawan: 12,074 runs in 298 innings

What makes Kohli’s record even more impressive is that he is the only Indian player to have an average above 50 in List-A cricket.

Talking about the match itself, Andhra put up a strong total of 298 runs in 50 overs. Ricky Bhui played a brilliant innings, scoring 122 runs off 105 balls. For Delhi, pacer Simarjeet Singh was the standout performer, taking five wickets while conceding 54 runs.