Manchester, June 27- India skipper Virat Kohli will need to score 37 runs in order to become the fastest batsman to score 20,000 international runs when he faces the West Indies during their World Cup tie at the Old Trafford on Thursday.
Kohli currently has 19, 963 runs to his name and is just 37 runs short of the record that legendary Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar holds along with West Indies great Brian Lara.
If Kohli manages to score 37 runs against Windies, he will reach the 20,000-international run milestone in 416 innings (131 in Tests, 223 in ODIs and 62 in T20Is). Tendulkar and Lara, both had reached the milestone in 453 innings, followed by former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting who scored 20,000 runs in 468 innings.
He will become the 12th batsman to this landmark and the third Indian after Tendulkar (34,357 runs) and Rahul Dravid (24,208 runs). The 30-year-old run-machine has been in great form in the ongoing tournament. After getting out cheaply against South Africa in the World Cup opener, Kohli scored 82 runs against Australia, 77 against Pakistan and 67 against Afghanistan.
Interestingly, during the innings against Pakistan at Old Trafford on June 16, Kohli also became the fastest batsman to score 11,000 ODI runs.
