WITH KOHLI REACHING YET ANOTHER LANDMARK, WE TAKE A LOOK AT THE GREATEST IN DIFFERENT SPORTS

Virat Kohli laid down another marker this week to illustrate how and why he is the world’s greatest batsman in cricket

The Indian captain set a new benchmark for consistency when he became the fastest batsman to reach 10,000 one-day international runs in his 205th innings against West Indies on Wednesday, eclipsing compatriot Sachin Tendulkar’s record by an astounding 54 innings.

With over 1,000 ODI runs in 2018, Kohli walks out to the crease with an aura of near-invincibility but he said the secret still lies in working hard for every run and never taking things for granted.

“Even after playing for 10 years, I don’t feel like I’m entitled for anything here,” Kohli told BCCI.tv yesterday. “You still have to work hard for every run you score at the international level while playing for your country because there are many people who want this very badly.

While the 29-year-old still has plenty of cricket ahead to establish himself as the best the game has ever seen, we look at other stars who took their sports by storm to join the list of ‘Untouchables’

Floyd Mayweather Jr All-conquering All Blacks

The New Zealand All Blacks have only been beaten by six other nations in the history of Test rugby union since 1903, and have an overall 77 per cent win ratio. They have held the No. 1 world ranking title longer than all the other teams combined. As recently as 2016, New Zealand set the record for the longest winning streak in Test Rugby (18 matches), and in the 2013 calendar year they won every Test they played. They also hold the record for most consecutive Test victories at home — 47 matches — achieved between 2009 and 2017. However, the standout team has to be that of their longest unbeaten streak from 1987 to 1990 that lasted 23 matches. The All Blacks’ largest test win was 145-17 against Japan in 1995.

Spain’s world beaters

Spain not only became the first European side to win a World Cup outside of Europe with their 2010 victory in South Africa, but also won backto-back European Championships in 2008 and 2012 beating Germany and Italy in respective finals. This made them the only national team to win three major titles in a row. They also won Team of the Year six times in a row from 2008 to 2013, one short of Brazil’s record run from 1994 to 2000. Also between November 2006 and June 2009, they went unbeaten for a record-equalling 35 consecutive matches, level with Brazil. These achievements lead many to believe this Spanish side were the greatest national team of all time. Boxing 50 wins, 0 losses Floyd Joy Mayweather Jr staked his claim to be the greatest pound-for-pound boxer of all time with a perfect 50-0 record across five weight divisions — from super featherweight to welterweight — since he first stepped into the ring back in 1996. He first made headlines with a bronze medal as an amateur at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. His defensive style brought him many critics, but his ferocity and stamina meant he defeated many stronger opponents during a career that also included 27 knockouts. ■ ■

Jack Nicklaus

Golf ■ 18 majors The Golden Bear is lauded as the best player ever to pick up a golf club and it is hard to argue with that, given he has collected 18 major championships over a 25year span. He made his breakthrough in 1962 when he followed up winning the US Amateur Open with victory in the US Open proper and that opened the floodgates to a further three US Opens, six Masters, three Open titles and five PGA Championships. His final major came at the 1986, when he shot a final-round 65 to become the oldest winner of the Masters. ■

Schumacher’s Seven Heaven

Formula One’s Michael Schumacher is widely regarded as the best the sport has ever seen, mainly thanks to the seven World Drivers’ Championship titles he picked up between 1994 and 2004, including five on the trot for Ferrari. His feats are raised even higher as he picked up his first two titles in an inferior Benetton car and he then continually succeeded during a period in the sport when there were no massive advantages between a number of teams and their machines. Germany’s first F1 champion still holds 25 (twenty-five!) records in the sports, including most drivers’ titles, most GP wins (91), most fastest laps (77) and the most races won in a season (13). Tragically, Schumacher hit his head on a rock while skiing in France, suffering a traumatic brain injury that left him in coma for four months. Although details of his condition are minimal as he attempts to recover in private, it is believed he is paralysed and continues to have severe mental impairments.

Serena shatters records

Serena Williams has had a nearly two decades of Grand Slam dominance as she has racked up 23 major titles at the ‘Big Four’ — The Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open. She holds the record for titles in the Open era, one more than Germany’s Steffi Graf and one behind Australia’s Margaret Court. Since picking up her first US Open in 1999. Serena has reached 31 Grand Slam finals, losing only eight. After matching Graf’s record of 22 titles in 2016 at Wimbledon, she set the record the following year in Australia, defeating her sister Venus in the final. Oh, and she was pregnant. She has reached two more finals since becoming a mum just underlining her hunger for success. Usain Bolt ■ Athletics 8 Olympic gold medals Jamaica’s Usain St Leo Bolt became a household name and regarded as the greatest sprinter of all time thanks to his gold medal triumphs in the 100 and 200 metres across three Olympics, starting at Beijing in 2008, and then at London four years later and Rio de Janeiro in 2016. He also has two 4x100m Olympic golds, but was stripped of a third after his teammate Nesta Carter failed a drug test.

At the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, Bolt set the current 100m world record with a time of 9.58 seconds. ■ Bubka vaults into history

Sergey Bubka took the saying raising the bar seriously and kept breaking one pole vault record after another in his 17-year career. The Ukrainian legend set a whopping 35 world records, including multiple World Championship and Olympic titles. Bubka, who took up pole vault as a nine year old, first set the outdoor world record in Bratislava in May 1984 and bettered it twice within weeks before clearing six metres for the first time in Paris in 1985. He still holds the outdoor world record of 6.14 metres in 1994. The Olympics were a mixed bag for Bubka. In Seoul in 1988, he won gold and won six straight World Championship titles from 1983 to 1997 before retiring in 2001. Frankel’s Tour de Force