Virat Kohli has scored 8,667 ODI runs batting second, at an average of 66.16, with 30 hundreds. No one has made more ODI hundreds in a chase: Rohit Sharma is next with 19 and Sachin Tendulkar has 17. Figures are from ESPNcricinfo, to 13 October 2026.
Tendulkar still holds the record for the most ODI runs batting second, 8,720 in 242 matches, so Kohli is 53 runs short of it with his ODI career still going. Kohli has played 63 fewer matches.
Those numbers are why he is called the chase master. Michael Bevan, MS Dhoni and AB de Villiers built their names on finishing chases too, but among the 25 highest run-scorers batting second in ODIs, no one comes close to Kohli’s average. De Villiers is next at 56.81.
Virat Kohli in ODI chases
Kohli averages 66.16 batting second against 51.12 batting first. When India won the chase, his average rises to 90.18: 6,403 runs and 25 hundreds in 107 innings.
| Batting | Inns | Runs | Ave | 100s |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Second (chasing) | 168 | 8,667 | 66.16 | 30 |
| Second, India won | 107 | 6,403 | 90.18 | 25 |
| First | 137 | 6,442 | 51.12 | 25 |
All 15 of his unbeaten chase hundreds came in wins. His highest ODI score, 183 off 148 balls against Pakistan at Mirpur in March 2012, came in a chase, as did his 52-ball hundred against Australia at Jaipur in October 2013 and his 115 not out off 66 balls at Nagpur in the same series.
His most recent chase hundred is 139 not out off 88 balls against West Indies at Thiruvananthapuram on 27 September 2026.
Most ODI hundreds batting second
| Batter | Mat | Runs | Ave | 100s |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Virat Kohli | 179 | 8,667 | 66.16 | 30 |
| Rohit Sharma | 169 | 6,801 | 51.13 | 19 |
| Sachin Tendulkar | 242 | 8,720 | 42.33 | 17 |
| Chris Gayle | 158 | 5,559 | 39.99 | 12 |
| Tillakaratne Dilshan | 138 | 4,104 | 44.12 | 11 |
In wins only, Kohli has 25 hundreds batting second; Rohit Sharma is next with 15 and Sachin Tendulkar has 14.
All of Virat Kohli’s ODI chase hundreds
India won 25 of the 30 matches. The five they did not win were Napier 2014, Canberra 2016, Pune 2018, Ranchi 2019 and Indore 2026.
| Score (balls) | Against | Venue, year |
|---|---|---|
| 107 (114) | Sri Lanka | Kolkata, 2009 |
| 102* (95) | Bangladesh | Mirpur, 2010 |
| 118 (121) | Australia | Visakhapatnam, 2010 |
| 112* (98) | England | Delhi, 2011 |
| 117 (123) | West Indies | Visakhapatnam, 2011 |
| 133* (86) | Sri Lanka | Hobart, 2012 |
| 183 (148) | Pakistan | Mirpur, 2012 |
| 128* (119) | Sri Lanka | Colombo, 2012 |
| 115 (108) | Zimbabwe | Harare, 2013 |
| 100* (52) | Australia | Jaipur, 2013 |
| 115* (66) | Australia | Nagpur, 2013 |
| 123 (111) | New Zealand | Napier, 2014 |
| 136 (122) | Bangladesh | Fatullah, 2014 |
| 139* (126) | Sri Lanka | Ranchi, 2014 |
| 106 (92) | Australia | Canberra, 2016 |
| 154* (134) | New Zealand | Mohali, 2016 |
| 122 (105) | England | Pune, 2017 |
| 111* (115) | West Indies | Kingston, 2017 |
| 110* (116) | Sri Lanka | Colombo, 2017 |
| 112 (119) | South Africa | Durban, 2018 |
| 129* (96) | South Africa | Centurion, 2018 |
| 140 (107) | West Indies | Guwahati, 2018 |
| 107 (119) | West Indies | Pune, 2018 |
| 104 (112) | Australia | Adelaide, 2019 |
| 123 (95) | Australia | Ranchi, 2019 |
| 114* (99) | West Indies | Port of Spain, 2019 |
| 103* (97) | Bangladesh | Pune, 2023 |
| 100* (111) | Pakistan | Dubai, 2025 |
| 124 (108) | New Zealand | Indore, 2026 |
| 139* (88) | West Indies | Thiruvananthapuram, 2026 |
Kohli’s T20I and IPL chase record
Kohli retired from T20Is after the 2024 T20 World Cup. Batting second he averaged 67.10, against 38.83 batting first, and made 20 fifties in 48 innings. In the chases India won, his average was 78.61.
He never made a T20I hundred in a chase. His highest T20I score batting second was 94 not out off 50 balls against West Indies at Hyderabad in December 2019, and India won that match. His only T20I hundred, 122 not out against Afghanistan in Dubai in 2022, came batting first.
In the IPL he averages 42.89 batting second and 38.45 batting first. He has three hundreds batting second for RCB: 108 not out against Rising Pune Supergiants in 2016, 100 against Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2023 and 105 not out against Kolkata Knight Riders in 2026.
| Format | Inns | Runs | Ave | SR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| T20I, second | 48 | 2,013 | 67.10 | 136.47 |
| T20I, first | 69 | 2,175 | 38.83 | 137.57 |
| IPL, second | 133 | 4,375 | 42.89 | 136.97 |
| IPL, first | 142 | 4,961 | 38.45 | 132.93 |
What about Tests?
In Tests, the fourth innings is where a team chases, or bats to save the match. Kohli, who retired from Tests in May 2025, scored 1,102 runs at 42.38 in 32 fourth innings, with two hundreds: 105 not out to save the Wellington Test in February 2014, and 141 at Adelaide in December 2014, when India chased 364 and lost by 48 runs. His chase-master reputation comes from white-ball cricket.
For the batters who close out games from lower down the order, see our list of the best finishers in cricket.
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Photo credit: Alamy