India vs South Africa: Records Virat Kohli sent tumbling with his 34th ODI ton

India captain Virat Kohli (Photo: BCCI Twitter)

It's not a secret, but scoring runs is now becoming a child's play for Virat Kohli, who, on Wednesday, struck his 34th ODI century in the third match of the series against South Africa in Cape Town. And it sent many a record tumbling. 

The India captain scored 160 not out in 159 balls in India's total of 303/6 after South Africa won the toss and asked the visitors to bat. Kohli was required as early as the second over of the innings, after Rohit Sharma was dismissed for a duck. The skipper not only stayed the remainder of the India innings but also stitched crucial partnerships with Shikhar Dhawan (76) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (16*).

While hitting 12 fours and two sixes during his stay, Kohli's 34th century in his 197th innings across 205 ODIs to date brought about the following records. 

1. Most ODI centuries as India captain. Kohli went past Sourav Ganguly (11) with his knock at Newlands, while climbing up to the third position in the overall list.

Ricky Ponting - 22
AB de Villiers - 13
Virat Kohli - 12
Sourav Ganguly - 11
Sanath Jayasuriya - 10

In fact, Kohli now has most centuries as India captain in both Tests (14) and ODIs (12).

2. A 100 ODI sixes: The two sixes Kohli hit took his tally of total sixes in 50-over internationals to 101. 

3. Kohli also became the first Indian to score 100 or more runs by running between the wickets in an ODI innings. The previous best for India was 98 by Ganguly during his 130-run knock against Sri Lanka in 1999.

4. The 160 not out is also Kohli's highest score in ODIs when batting first. His previous highest was 138, which he incidentally also made against South Africa in 2015 at Chennai. 

5. This knock is also Kohli's longest ODI innings in terms of balls faced (159). It is also the longest ever ODI innings for India other than the opening position. Azharuddin faced 158 balls against at The Oval in 1986. The most balls Kohli faced before Wednesday's innings was 148 against Pakistan in Dhaka back in 2012. That was when Kohli produced his to-date highest knock of 183. 

6. Virat Kohli is now involved in 42 instances where India have scored 300 or more runs in ODIs since 2010. It is also the most in overall list (since 2010).

Kohli - 42
Hashim Amla and MS Dhoni - 38
AB de Villiers - 36
Eoin Morgan - 34
JP Duminy - 32