India, Jan. 11 -- Virat Kohli went past 28,000 runs, and it isn't just another milestone to file away. It is a reminder that modern ODI batting has one repeatable outlier: a player who treats a milestones like a standard outcome once he's set.

It came in the India-New Zealand series opener at Vadodara's Kotambi Stadium with India chasing 301 after New Zealand posted 300/8.

The simplest way to measure Kohli's consistency machine is to ask: how often does he convert an innings into a big one?

Going into this match, Virat Kohli had played 308 ODIs and batted 296 times. He already owned the all-time ODI hundreds record at 53, a mark he reached during the home ODI series against South Africa in December.

In a format where even legends are ...