Virat Kohli has spent much of his ODI career making impossible chases look routine.
But one statistic from his latest century against West Indies is almost absurd.
Kohli now has 25 centuries in successful ODI run-chases.
That is not 25 centuries while batting second. It is 25 hundreds in matches where India successfully chased the target.
And that number is so enormous that Kohli's individual tally surpasses the combined number of centuries scored in successful ODI chases by all the batters from several major cricketing nations.
Kohli Has 25 Centuries in Winning Chases
Kohli's unbeaten 139 against West Indies in Thiruvananthapuram was his 25th century in a successful ODI run-chase.
It was also his 55th ODI hundred overall and came as India chased down West Indies' total with eight wickets in hand.
According to figures published after the innings, Kohli has scored 30 ODI centuries while chasing in total.
Five of those came in matches India did not win.
The other 25 came in successful chases.
That means more than 83 per cent of Kohli's ODI hundreds while batting second have ended with India winning the match.
It is a staggering conversion rate in the highest-pressure phase of one-day cricket.
Pakistan's Entire ODI History Cannot Match Kohli's 25
The comparison becomes even more striking when Kohli is placed against entire national teams.
Pakistan have produced some of the greatest ODI batters in cricket history, including Saeed Anwar, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Yousuf, Babar Azam and others.
Yet no individual Pakistani batter comes close to Kohli's tally in successful chases.
Saeed Anwar, one of Pakistan's greatest-ever ODI openers, finished with nine centuries in successful run-chases, according to historical records.
Kohli has almost three times that number by himself.
And the extraordinary part is that Kohli's 25 is not merely a record among individual batters. It has reached a level where comparisons with entire cricketing nations become meaningful.
Sri Lanka Produced Two Chase Masters. Kohli Has More Than Both
Sri Lanka's ODI history is packed with extraordinary players who thrived while chasing.
Sanath Jayasuriya and Tillakaratne Dilshan are particularly relevant.
Jayasuriya scored nine centuries in successful ODI chases, while Dilshan also scored nine.
Together, the two Sri Lankan legends produced 18 hundreds in successful run-chases.
Kohli has 25.
That means Kohli has seven more successful-chase centuries than two of Sri Lanka's greatest-ever ODI batting stars combined.
And this is not a comparison of two ordinary players. Jayasuriya and Dilshan are among the defining limited-overs batters of their generations.
Australia's Greats Also Fall Behind
Australia have traditionally been one of the strongest ODI nations and have produced an extraordinary collection of batting greats.
Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, Michael Clarke, Shane Watson and David Warner all had major roles in successful Australian run-chases.
Yet Kohli's 25 successful-chase hundreds stand apart even against the collective history of Australia's elite ODI batting.
That is what makes the statistic so difficult to comprehend.
Kohli is not simply ahead of another legendary batter.
His tally has entered territory normally associated with an entire country's record book.
England's ODI Revolution Cannot Match It Either
England's modern ODI era has produced an entirely different style of batting.
Joe Root, Eoin Morgan, Jos Buttler, Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow have all produced match-winning hundreds while chasing.
Root alone has 20 ODI centuries overall, the most by an English batter.
But Kohli's 25 hundreds in successful chases is a completely different statistical mountain.
He has accumulated more winning-chase centuries than England's entire history can match in the same category.
That is particularly remarkable considering how aggressively England transformed their ODI batting after the 2015 World Cup.
Kohli's Numbers Explain the 'Chase Master' Tag
The nickname does not come simply from a collection of memorable innings.
The numbers behind it are extraordinary.
Kohli has scored 8,638 ODI runs while chasing, with 30 centuries and 45 fifties.
Of those runs, 6,374 have come in victories.
That means nearly three-quarters of his runs while batting second have come in matches India went on to win.
His overall ODI record now stands at 15,080 runs and 55 centuries, with his latest hundred coming against West Indies in September 2026.
And 25 of those 55 hundreds have arrived in successful chases.
The Gap at the Top Is Extraordinary
The closest players to Kohli on the list of centuries in successful ODI run-chases are Sachin Tendulkar and Rohit Sharma, with 14 each.
Kohli therefore has 11 more successful-chase centuries than either of them.
That is remarkable in itself.
But the most revealing comparison may be this:
Virat Kohli — 25
Sachin Tendulkar + Rohit Sharma — 28
Two of India's greatest ODI batters combined have only three more centuries in successful chases than Kohli has produced alone.
And when comparisons are extended beyond individual players to entire national cricket histories, Kohli's number becomes even more difficult to comprehend.
From Chasing Targets to Chasing History
Kohli's latest century also carried him past 15,000 ODI runs, making him only the second batter after Sachin Tendulkar to reach the landmark. He got there in just 315 innings, the fastest anyone has reached the mark.
At 37, Kohli is now adding to records that already looked extraordinary when he was at his peak.
Yet his most remarkable statistical identity may still be the simplest one.
Give India a target.
Put Kohli in the chase.
And there is a reason the numbers have made "Chase Master" more than just a nickname.
