Ranchi: Milestone man Virat Kohli on Friday became only the fourth Indian skipper to pile up 4,000 runs in One-Day Internationals (ODIs). He also surpassed South Africa's AB de Villiers to become the fastest player to scale peak-4000 as captain. Kohli did it in 63 ODI innings, 14 innings less than his Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) mate de Villiers.   

The Indian captain and run machine also brought up his 41st ODI hundred in the course of his knock against Australia in the third match of the series in Ranchi. He is now just eight short of Sachin Tendulkar's ODI century record of 49. 

Kohli has so far registered 19 ODI tons and 14 fifties from 63 innings as the Indian captain.

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Kohli, who needed just 27 runs to get to 4,000 ODI runs, accomplished it in his 66th ODI as captain. He got there with a boundary. 

Kohli now joins the elite list of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Mohammad Azharuddin and Sourav Ganguly to have scored 4,000 ODI runs as captain.

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Kohli hit a sparkling 123 off 95 balls (4X16, 6X1) and steadied India's ship, which was floundering at 86/4 at one time, faced with a mammoth target of 314. Kohli's knock ensured India stayed in the hunt. Unfortunately, Kohli was bowled by Adam Zampa at a crucial time.

Australia had reached 313/5 in their 50 overs, on the back of a century by Usman Khawaja and a 93 by captain Aaron Finch. Glenn Maxwell chipped in with a handy 47. India lead the five-match ODI series 2-0 and will seal the deal if they win in Ranchi.

With PTI inputs