Virat Kohli's Top 5 One Day Innings

Virat Kohli “The legacy of Sachin Tendulkar” as everyone says is really the modern day master. The Best batsman of the era needs no introduction in world cricket. Here is the list of his top 5 most impactful innings.

5) 154* vs New Zealand-

Chasing 286 vs New Zealand at Mohali, India were reduced to 41 for 2 in the 9th over. Kohli as usual came to bat at number 3 and Dhoni joined him to revive India out of trouble. The duo then added 163 runs and that is when Dhoni departed after scoring 80. But Virat Kohli continued his dominance over New Zealand bowlers. India reached the target comfortably as Virat Kohli's brilliant knock of 154 runs saw India reach the target in the penultimate over of the match. This innings has to go down as one of the best ODI innings of Virat Kohli.

4) 160* vs South Africa -

This is one of those innings where Virat Kohli almost single handedly took India's score to a respectable total. Dhawan thougj played a good innings of 76 runs but Kohli was the standout performer. Out of India's score of 303 he alone almost scored 60% of the team's score. Virat Kohli was suffering from cramps when he was on 95, but like a warrior he continued to play and successfully played till the last and remained not out at 160. While bowling the spinners assured that India get a huge victory but Kohli was adjudged MOM for his outstanding display of batting.

3) 100* vs Australia-

This innings if Virat Kohli is certainly of the those innings where he massacred the opposition bowlers to snatch away the match. Australia batting first posted a huge score of 359 runs, with the virtue of their top 5 all getting 50+ scores. The match seemed to be in Australia's pocket but Indian top order had some other plans. Indian openers at first destroyed the Australian bowling line up, but eventually Shikhar Dhawan fell in the trap of James Faulkner when the team's score was 178. In came Virat Kohli who joined force with an well settled Rohit Sharma. Virat Kohli that day seemed to be in other world. He was literally toying with Australia's bowlers. Virat Kohli brought up his century in just 52 balls the fastest ODI century by an Indian which assured that India reach the target of 360 in just 44th over. His partner in crime Rohit Sharma also remained not out on 141, as India won the match by 9 wickets.

2) 183 vs Pakistan-

The match is best remembered for the brilliance of current Indian team captain Virat Kohli, who scored his best in ODI cricket till date – a massive 183 while chasing a difficult 330.

Pakistan batted first and thanks to a monstrous first-wicket stand between Mohammad Hafeez and Nasir Jamshed, Pakistan were cruising to set a mammoth total on the board. The fall of wickets deep down the batting order did not help their cause yet they were able to post 329 on the board.

Then came India's turn to turn the heat on the bowlers. They got off to the worst possible start as Hafeez trapped Gautam Gambhir on only the second ball of the innings. However, from thereon, India did not look back. Kohli partnered with Sachin Tendulkar to wreck havoc on Pakistan's bowling. He ended up scoring 183 and took India to victory with 13 balls remaining. That day it was all about Kohli as he tore apart Pakistan's bowling attack.

1) 133* vs Sri Lanka-

28th February 2012. Yes, the day when Virat Kohli announced himself in the international cricket and cleared all doubts from his critics mind that he is the next Master of World cricket. In that match Sri Lanka posted a huge score of 320 thanks to Dilshan and Sangakkara's century. 320 chasing is hard but certainly far away from Impossible. What makes it close to impossible is to make it in the tri-series final which involved Australia is that India needed to win with the bonus points to qualify, and for that India needed to complete the chase within 40 overs. Which means India needed to score at 8 runs per over. It seemed improbable even after a brilliant start from Sehwag and Tendulkar. But soon after completing the 50 runs partnership in the 6th over Sehwag departed. Gambhir though played a decent knock of 64 but it was again all about Kohli. Coming to bat at 86 for 2 in the 10th over Kohli massacred Sri Lankan bowling totally, which obviously included the then world's best bowler Lasith Malinga who troubled almost everyone with his unorthodox action. But Virat Kohli was not on mood to care about those toe crushing yorkers, as he bludgeoned Lasith Malinga and his partners to help India reach the 321 runs target in the 37th over. Lasith Malinga has to return with a figure of 7.4-0-96-0. The bowling figure shows the dominance of Viray Kohli. Virat Kohli reamined not out on 133 off just 86 deliveries along with Raina 40* off 24 deliveries. This will go down as the best Virat Kohli innings as a young 24 year old dominated a legend like Lasith Malinga under severe pressure to chase down a huge total of 320.