Virat Kohli in touching distance to leapfrog Faf du Plesis, Joe Root as top-scorer of the year in ODIs

PTI

New Delhi: Virat Kohli was amongst runs once again as Team India secured a record victory over Sri Lanka in the opening ODI of the 5-match series in Dambulla and now the skipper looks likely to end 2017 as the top scorer in the format, ahead of South African Faf du Plesis and England's Joe Root. (IND vs SL - Full Coverage)

Kohli slammed an unbeaten 82-run knock off just 70 deliveries and form an unbroken 197-run partnership with centurion Shikhar Dhawan as the visitors secured a rather easy win to take a 1-0 lead in the series.

His innings in Dambula now puts him 45 runs behind South African skipper Faf Du Plessis and 16 runs behind England superstar Joe Root in the list of most runs scored in 2017. 

With his 82 against the Lankans, Virat overtook England skipper Eoin Morgan into the top three and presently averages more than the other two above him.

WATCH: Virat Kohli times shot to perfection, hits Lakshan Sandakan for straight six

Kohli now has 769 runs to his name in 14 matches this year while Du Plessis has 814 (16 matches) and Root 785 (14 matches). The Indian captain averages 96.1 as compared to Root's 71.3 and Du Plessis' 58.1 in the calendar year.

The Indian team still have 4 more ODIs to play in the series, which gives Kohli an excellent platform and opportunity to overtake Root and Du Plesis as the leading run-scorer of the year. 

With England not playing the 50-over format until September 19 (against West Indies) and South Africa not playing ODIs until October 15 (against Bangladesh), Kohli can take a huge lead from the duo in bid to hold on to his place until the end of year.

The 28-year-old has been phenomenal with the bat, not just since last year. In 2016 alone, he scored 726 runs in 7 innings, scoring three hundreds and 4 fifties.

Virat Kohli in ODI chases in the last year:
7 innings
726 runs
3 100s
4 50s#howzstat #SLvInd pic.twitter.com/pF47E7UFjV — ICC (@ICC) August 22, 2017

The Men in Blue will play the second ODI against the Islanders at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Kandy on Thursday.