Indian captain Virat Kohli hit a half-century in his final international innings of the year during the fourth day of the ongoing third Test against Sri Lanka at Feroz Shah Kotla in New Delhi on Tuesday, December 5.

Kohli thereby finished 2017 with 2,818 international runs, which is the most by an Indian batsman in a calendar year.

Staggering numbers!

The world number five Test batsman, who has made it a habit to rewrite record books, hit 1,059 runs, including three double centuries in the longer format of the game at a staggering average of 75.64.

His limited-overs exploits look even more impressive as he amassed 1,460 ODI runs at 76.84 in 2017, hitting six tons in the process. Meanwhile, he also collected 299 T20I runs at 37.37 this year.

Kohli though will not have the opportunity to set the record for most number of international runs in a calendar year as he has been rested for the limited-over series, consisting three ODIs and three T20Is, against Sri Lanka later this month.

The skipper has thus finished third on the coveted list behind Kumar Sangakkara and Ricky Ponting. Notably, Kohli just finished 15 runs behind the latter's tally of 2,833, which he scored in 2005.

Kohli though was breaking records at will in what proved to be another phenomenal year. The 29-year-old has become the only player to score more than 2,500 runs for two consecutive years.

Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli will not be part of India's ODI and T20I squads for upcoming series against Sri LankaIANS
  • He has surpassed some of the legendary names with his batting exploits in the ongoing series
  • Kohli broke Brian Lara's record of most double centuries as captain in the first innings of the ongoing Delhi Test, in which he scored his sixth double ton
  • He reached 20 Test centuries in just 105 innings, two faster than Sachin Tendulkar.
  • He also broke Ponting and Graeme Smith's record of most centuries (10) as captain in a calendar year when he scored his 11th ton of 2017 in the Nagpur Test.
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