Virat Kohli's 500th international match: Key numbers from batter’s career ahead of milestone game

When Virat Kohli walks in for the second Test against West Indies on Thursday, it would be his 500th international appearance. He’d become the tenth player in the world so far to achieve the rare feat, joining legends like Sachin Tendulkar (664 matches), Ricky Ponting (560 matches), Rahul Dravid (509 matches) and MS Dhoni (538) matches in the elite club. In his 499 international games so far, he has scored 25,461 runs at an impressive average of 53.48; He has hit 75 centuries and 131 fifties and boasts a best of 254 not out. **‘Blessed that I’ve had such a long journey’: Virat Kohli ahead of 500th match** Since his debut in 2008, Virat has distinguished himself as a high-quality batter and his career studded with numerous records and honours bears witness to grit, determination, and excellence. He has single-handedly steered India to victory in tight spots, a recent example of this is the India vs Pakistan match at the 2022 T20 World Cup. Kohli stole the match from the tight grip of the arch-rivals with a power-packed performance that won him admirers in the Pakistani camp. Here’s a look at Virat Kohli’s illustrious career so far in numbers: Kohli has played 110 Tests, so far, and gathered 8,555 runs at an average of 48.88, making him the fifth-highest Test scorer for India. He has hit seven double hundreds, 28 hundreds, and 29 fifties so far. His best is 254 not out. He has also led the Indian side in 68 Tests. India won 40 of these games, losing 17 with the remaining 11 ending in a draw. This makes for a win percentage of 58.82, one of the best figures of an Indian Test captain. Under his captaincy, Team India came out at the top of the Test ranking multiple times and won the ICC WTC mace thrice. It was also Kohli who led India to their first-ever Test series victory in Australia in 2018 besides preparing a formidable pace-attack. **Virat Kohli is a real inspiration to so many players: Rahul Dravid** As far as his Test performance against West Indies is concerned, he has played 15 matches against them and scored 898 runs at an average of 44.90; He has hit two centuries, six fifties and a double hundred. However, when it comes to playing the Windies in the Caribbean, Kohli hasn’t had the best of his outings; 10 matches – 539 runs at an average of 38.50. He has scored only one century and three fifties, his best of 200 runs was in the Caribbean though. Kohli has an even better record in the shorter formats. He has played 274 ODIs with 12,898 runs at an average of 57.32 runs. He has 46 hundred and 65 fifties to his name in the ODIs. While he’s the fifth-highest ODI run scorer in the world, he is the second-highest for India. He’s the fasted ODI player ever to cross the 12,000-mark in just 242 innings. In the T20Is he has made 115 appearances hitherto and is the highest run-getter in the shortest format with 4,008 runs at an average of 52.73. He has one hundred and 37 fifties to name in T20Is, with a best of 122 unbeaten.