It feels good to equal Viv Richards feat: Virat Kohli

Mangalore Today News Network

Kochi, Nov 22, 2013 (IBN): India’s vice-captain Virat Kohli on Thursday reached a rare milestone when he became the joint fastest batsman along with Viv Richards to reach the 5000-run mark in ODI cricket but the flamboyant right-hander said it was just the beginning and he still has a long way to go.

Even though he is delighted to share the feat with Richards, Kohli said he never goes on to bat thinking about records.

 

"I was told in Bangalore during the last ODI (about the record) but I did not really remember it because I do not approach a game thinking about records. I said to myself that if you bat well, along the way these milestones are bound to happen," he said at the post match press conference after India defeated West Indies by six wickets in the first ODI of the three-match series here.

"To equal a feat with a player like him (Richards) is a very good feeling but it does not stop here because it is more or less the beginning. It is nice to equal his record but still there is a long way to go," a confident Kohli said.

Kohli smashed a classy 84 and along with Rohit Sharma (72) shared 133 runs for the second wicket to set the platform for the win.

Kohli said the wicket was not easy to bat but it became better as the match progressed. "There was variable bounce on the wicket in the first innings. Compared to that, it was better in the second innings. But the wicket was slow and the ball was turning. It was a flat batting wicket and was on the slower side," he said.

India chased down West Indies paltry 211 total with consummate ease in 35.2 overs but Kohli said it would be wrong to judge the visitors’ bowling attack on Thursday’s performance.

"They have a pretty experienced bowlers in their ranks. (Ravi) Rampaul is there and Sunil Narine is a very good spinner. Dwayne Bravo has got about 180 or so wickets. Darren Sammy is a clever bowler. They have got some very good bowlers," he said.

"During the Champions Trophy in England their bowling attack was right up there. They were making teams struggling for runs. We just batted well. It is not that they bowled too badly. We just hit percentage shots. It was more of good batting than bad bowling by them. So, credit goes to our batters," Kohli said.

Kohli said India boasts of a good bowling attack which would come handy in the upcoming tour South Africa. "It is away from home and you will never know. I don’t think ours is a bad bowling attack, not that we have been smashed for 350 plus in every game by the opposition.

"The new rule change is pretty difficult for the bowlers. Today you saw a good example. We restricted the rival batting line up by executing our plans. I think in South Africa our bowlers will get little bit of help from the wicket," he said.

"I will back our bowlers as they could swing the ball both ways. You saw (Mohammad) Shami, Bhuvaneswar Kumar and Umesh Yadav. They are bowlers who bowl in length and they can trouble you in any point of time. We are pretty confident about that," he added.

List of batsmen to fastest to 5,000 ODI runs
Virat Kohli and Vivian Richards (114 innings)
Brian Lara 118
Gordon Greenidge 121
AB de Villiers 124
Sourav Ganguly 126
Dean Jones 128
Graeme Smith 131
Matthew Hayden 133
Michael Bevan, MS Dhoni, Gautam Gambhir 135
Gary Kirsten, Jacques Kallis, Ricky Ponting, Chris Gayle 137
Sachin Tendulkar, Saeed Anwar, Mohammad Yousuf 138