New Delhi: Senior Indian batter Virat Kohli on Friday became the latest entrant to join the club of batters to score more than 9000 runs in their Test career. He achieved the landmark during the third day of the first Test against New Zealand played at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
Kohli became the 18th player overall in the history of the traditional format to cross 9000 runs and only the fourth Indian to do so. Only Sachin Tendulkar (15921), Rahul Dravid (13265), and Sunil Gavaskar (10122) are the only players from the country to reach the feat before Kohli in the red-ball format.
Ahead of the first Test against New Zealand, Kohli needed only 53 runs to reach the milestone. However, a duck in the first innings delayed the achievement. In the 42nd over of the second Indian innings, the India No.3 picked a single off William O’Rourke’s bowling to take/hit boundary on the nth ball. This shot marked the former Indian skipper’s 9000 runs in the red-ball format.
Kohli achieved the feat in his 197th innings, which made him the 11th fastest player to complete 9000 runs in Tests. Former Sri Lankan batter Kumar Sangakkara is the fastest batter to reach the milestone in 172 innings followed Australian batting icon Steven Smith (174), Rahul Dravid (176) and Brian Lara and Ricky Ponting (both reaching the feat in 177 innings).
(More to follow)
