Kohli destroys Tendulkar batting milestone

Virat Kohli has not just broken a milestone record set by Sachin Tendulkar but completely obliterated the mark.

Kohli on Wednesday reached 12,000 ODI runs in his 242nd innings, in the third match of the series against Australia.

The disparity to Tendulkar, India's batting icon, is jaw-dropping. It took the Little Master 300 innings to reach 12,000 runs.

Next on the list are Australian champion Ricky Ponting (314) and Sri Lanka greats Kumar Sangakkara (336) and Sanath Jayasuriya (379).

Kohli's secret, and indeed that of the other top-five batsmen, is that they have grounded their games in conventional cricket strokes rather than limited-overs circus shots. That's the verdict of former Australian captain Ian Chappell. There are no shots in the Kohli arsenal that are likely to fail him as often as not.

"Viv Richards was exactly the same. He was the best short-form cricketer in his time and he did it playing traditional cricket shots," Chappell told Wide World of Sports.

"Virat's the best in his time and he does it playing totally conventional shots."

Kohli had another strong ODI series against Australia, albeit without a century. He made scores of 21, 89 and 63; at total of 173 runs at 57.66.

The Indian great produced some stunning batting during the series. In Sydney, he hit what was effectively a turbo-charged leg glance for six, whipping it off his hip with a flourish and into the crowd.

Kohli's sprint to 12,000 runs puts him in a position to overhaul Tendulkar's record for most ODI runs, while he is fast-approaching the mark for most one-day centuries.

Tendulkar tops the runs chart with 18,426 runs, ahead of Sangakkara (14,234), Ponting (13,704), Jayasuriya (13,430), Mahela Jayawardene (12,650) and Kohli (12,040).

Tendulkar played 463 matches against Kohli's 251 and the Little Master averaged 44.83, well below Kohli's peerless 59.31. Tendulkar made 49 ODI centuries and Kohli already has 43, at the age of 32.