Kohli went past Kumar Sangakkara to become the second highest run-getter in international cricket.
Virat Kohli won his 45th Player of the Match award trophy in the first India v New Zealand ODI that was played on January 11, 2026. This match was played at the BCA Stadium in Kotambi, Vadodara, and saw India captain Shubman Gill winning the toss and choosing to bowl first.
Devon Conway (56) and Henry Nicholls (62) added 117 runs for the first wicket for the Kiwis, and then Daryl Mitchell hit 84 runs to push New Zealand towards a good total. However, Indian bowlers restricted the Kiwi middle order, and they could only make 300/8. Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, and Harshit Rana picked two wickets each for India.
In response, Shubman Gill made 56, Rohit Sharma made 26, and Shreyas Iyer made 49 runs. Virat Kohli held up one end and scored 93 runs with 8 fours and one six. Though India lost a bunch of wickets in quick succession, KL Rahul’s 29* and Harshit Rana’s quick 29 led India to a four-wicket win in the first ODI. Kyle Jamieson picked 4/41 for New Zealand.
Virat Kohli won the Player of the Match for his 93 and had a chat with the presenter in the post-match presentation.
At the post-match presentation, the batting superstar was asked if he himself knew how many ‘player of the match’ awards he has, to which Kohli replied, “Honestly, I have no idea. I send it to my mom in Gurgaon; she likes to keep them."
Virat Kohli has scored 28,000 runs in international cricket. He reached this milestone in just 624 innings, overtaking Sachin Tendulkar (644 innings) and Kumar Sangakkara (666 innings).
Kohli, with 28,017* runs, eclipsed Sangakkara's tally of 28,016 runs to become the second-highest run-scorer in international cricket, trailing only Sachin Tendulkar, who has 34,357 runs.
“If I look back at my whole journey, then it is nothing short of a dream come true for me. I have always known my abilities, but I also knew I had to work extremely hard to get where I am today. God has blessed me with far more than I could ever ask for. I look back at my journey with a lot of grace and gratitude, and I feel really proud of it,” Kohli stated.
Kohli also stated that the way he has been batting in recent times, he is not thinking about milestones when asked about missing his 54th ODI century.
“If I am being brutally honest, the way I’m playing right now, I’m not thinking about milestones at all. If we were batting first, I probably would’ve gone harder. But in a chase, with a total on the board, I had to play the situation. I felt like hitting more boundaries, but experience kicked in. The only thing on my mind was getting the team into a position where we could win comfortably.
The basic idea is I bat at number three; if the situation is tricky, I back myself to counterattack rather than just waiting around. Any ball can have your name on it, so there’s no point in being passive. At the same time, you don’t play outrageous shots—you stick to your strengths. Today, when I walked in after Rohit got out, I felt if I pushed hard in the first 20 balls, we could put the opposition on the back foot. That ended up making the difference,” Kohli added.
Virat Kohli compared his situation with MS Dhoni, with the crowd cheering for him when he comes out to bat every time.
“It is all different timings happening at different games. I’m aware of it, and honestly, I don’t feel good about it. I’ve seen the same thing happen with MS as well. It’s not a great feeling for the guy walking back. I understand the crowd’s excitement, but I try to focus on what I need to do and not think too much about it. I’m extremely grateful. It’s a blessing, honestly. To give so much happiness to so many people just by doing what you love—playing the sport you’ve loved since childhood—what more can I ask for? I’m living my dream, and seeing people smile makes me happy,” Kohli concluded.
The second ODI between India and New Zealand will be played on January 14 in Rajkot.