SL vs IND: Virat Kohli goes past Sachin Tendulkar to become fastest batsman to complete 4000 ODI runs in successful chases

New Delhi: Skipper Virat Kohli notched up his 44th ODI fifty along side Shikhar Shawan's unbeaten 132 as the Men in Blue extended their domination over the jaded Sri Lankan side with a nine-wicket victory in the first one-day international match at Dambulla, on Sunday. En route to his 70-ball 82, the Indian skipper became the third cricketer to surpass the 4000-run mark in successful chases in ODIs.

Despite the hosts taking off to a promising start following an edgy piece of 74-run opening partnership and with Niroshan Dickwella notching up his 5th ODI fifty, the Islanders resolved to their old form after the his dimissal, crumbling down to mere 210 in 44 overs.

Staring at a paltry total, India too faced an initial hiccup, but things settled down and looked way more than mere comfortable as Virat and Dhawan combined to cruise the Indian ship past 211 registering their biggest ever win in terms of balls remaining for a target of 200-plus.

En route to his 70-ball 82, Virat Kohli not only did account his tally of ODI fifties to 44, but also edged past former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly's tally of 44 fifty-plus scores while chasing in ODI cricket. He now has 45 such knocks, standing third on the list behind Jacques Kallis and Sachin Tendulkar.

Dubbed as a Chase-master, the 28-year-old now has amassed 4001 runs in successful ODI chases, once again standing third on the list. Former Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar leads the chart with has 5490 runs while Aussie great Ricky Ponting has 4186 runs to his name. However, what Kohli can brag about is that he achieved the run mark in just 64 innings at an impressive average of 100.02. In comparison, Sachin achieved it in 124 ODI innings at an average of 55.45 while Ponting in 104 innings at an average of 57.34. Adding to it, Kohli, with 4268 runs, stands 28 runs ahead of his idol Sacin in terms of most runs amassed day-night game in ODIs.

In the month of July, when India was touring West Indies for a limited-over series, Viart Kohli had notched up his 28th ODI ton in the fifth game. 18 of those were smashed whilst chasing in 102 innings, thereby going past Sachin's tally of 17 in 232 innings.

Team India will play the second ODI match at Pallekele, on August 24.