Virat Kohli will be back in India colours when the side face New Zealand at home. The former India captain had recently donned the navy blue of Delhi in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, playing in the tournament for the first time in over a decade, and seemed to simply carry forward the incredible form that he showed in the ODI series against South Africa before that.
One of the most prolific batters of all time, Kohli is at that stage of his career where records fall almost every time he makes a big score. When the first match against New Zealand comes around, however, Kohli may not need to make that big a score to topple a record currently held by the legendary Sachin Tendulkar.
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Kohli’s career tally of runs in international cricket currently stands at 27,975 and he is hence only 25 runs away from getting to 28,000. If he does it in the series against New Zealand, or even the next series against England which is scheduled to be played in July, Kohli could overtake Tendulkar as the fastest player to get to the mark. Kohli has played 623 innings in international cricket thus far while Tendulkar had got there in 644.
It won’t be the first time that Kohli breaks a record held by Tendulkar, particularly in ODI cricket. Most famously, Kohli overtook Tendulkar’s record tally of 49 in ODI cricket during the 2023 World Cup. He now has 53 centuries going into the New Zealand series. While his form in Test cricket dwindled, Kohli has seemingly got a second wind in ODI cricket since 2023. Last year, he only stepped up in the format after retiring from Tests, finishing 2025 with a tally of 651 runs for the calendar year at an average of 65.10 in 13 matches with three centuries and four half-centuries. With the veteran seemingly having his eyes set on winning the 2027 World Cup, Kohli will be looking to continue that form in this series before returning to T20 cricket for RCB in the 2026 IPL.
Virat Kohli completed 16,000 List A runs during his Vijay Hazare Trophy comeback for Delhi in Bengaluru. (PTI Photo) 
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