Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni and Chris Gayle tower over the rest of the players at the ICC World Cup 2019. The trio holds a unique record. All eyes will be on them as the 10-team tournament starts in England on May 30
London: India captain Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni and Chris Gayle will enter the ICC World Cup 2019 in England and Wales with a unique record. And, as expectedly, all eyes will be on the trio from May 30.
Kohli, set to play in his third 50-over World Cup at the senior level, holds the record for the most number of runs scored in ODIs among the 10 participating teams’ players (150) in the tournament.
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The 30-year-old has so far scored 10,843 runs in 227 matches with 41 hundreds. He is the top run getter among active players in international cricket. Overall, he is the 10th in the all-time most run scorers list headed by Sachin Tendulkar (18,426 runs).
Kohli has already won two World Cups, as a skipper in Under-19 (2008) and senior level (2011). He is currently the number one ODI batsman in ICC Rankings.
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Before leaving for England on Wednesday (May 22), Kohli said it would be the “most challenging” World Cup for him.
"It is probably the most challenging World Cup of all the three that I have been part of because of the format and looking at the strength of the all the sides as well," Kohli said in Mumbai.
The skipper also said that he expected high-scoring games in England. It is good news for Indian fans as Kohli can keep amassing runs as he has been doing over the years and smashing records.
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"We expect high-scoring games, but a bilateral series compared to a World Cup is very different. You might see a lot of, I won't say low-scoring games, but 260-270 kind of games, teams getting those totals and defending it successfully because of the pressure factor. We expect all kinds of scenarios at the World Cup but yeah, there will be quite a few high-scoring games too," Kohli, who averages 59.57 in ODIs, said.
Apart from Kohli, his teammate Dhoni and West Indies opener Gayle are the other two active players with over 10,000 ODI runs. Dhoni and Gayle are most likely to be playing their final World Cup.
Dhoni, who led India to World Cup glory in 2011, has scored 10,500 runs (341 games) in the 50-over version of the game while Gayle has accumulated 10,151 from 289 matches.
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The 39-year-old Gayle has already announced that World Cup will be his last tournament before he retires from ODI cricket. After arriving in England he declared that bowlers still fear him.
1. Virat Kohli (India) — 10,843 runs
2. MS Dhoni (India) — 10,500
3. Chris Gayle (West Indies) — 10,151
4. Ross Taylor (New Zealand) — 8,026
5. Rohit Sharma (India) — 8,010
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