He only needed 12. On the 13th ball he faced in Auckland on Wednesday, Kohli dabbed a single to move past a number no other batter has ever reached from the one-down slot, becoming the first player to cross 13,000 ODI runs batting at No. 3.

Only one other batter has even cleared 10,000 runs in that position. Ricky Ponting, the former Australia captain, sits second with 12,662 runs at No. 3 across 330 innings. Kohli averages 61.55 at the position, with 48 hundreds and 69 fifties.

The milestone, and the over it came in

The landmark arrived during the seventh over of India’s chase of 186. New Zealand had been bowled out for 185 in 40.2 overs after captain Shubman Gill won the toss and chose to field on a lively Eden Park surface.

India’s opening partnership lasted one over. Rohit Sharma edged Kyle Jamieson to Mitchell Santner without scoring, pulling Kohli to the crease with the new ball still fresh.

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He found his range quickly. Kohli brought up his 80th ODI fifty in 35 balls. At the 16-over mark he was unbeaten on 55 from 39 balls with nine fours and a six, with Gill alongside him on 35.

A position few batters survive

No. 3 is cricket’s most exposed batting slot in white-ball cricket, often arriving within the first over with a fresh ball and the field up. Kohli has batted there 254 times between 2009 and 2026, long enough to make the slot his own.

Kumar Sangakkara, Jacques Kallis and Kane Williamson all batted most of their ODI careers at No. 3 without reaching 10,000 runs from that slot. Kohli and Ponting are the only two names on that list.

What comes next in the series

The Auckland match is the first of a five-match ODI series between New Zealand and India, with the second ODI next on the fixture list.

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Kohli, who turns 38 on Thursday, continues to bat exclusively in ODIs for India after retiring from Test cricket and T20 internationals.

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