Virat Kohli reached the 9000-run milestone during day three of the first test between India and New Zealand at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Friday.
After scoring a duck in the first innings, Kohli knocked off the 53 runs, which he needed to reach the mark and became the fourth Indian batter after Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, and Sunil Gavaskar to score 9000 or more runs in Test cricket.
Tendulkar, who retired from international cricket in 2013, holds the record for scoring most runs for India in Tests. He finished his career with 15,921 runs in 200 Tests. Dravid is second on the list with 13,265 runs in 163 Tests for India and is followed by Gavaskar, who amassed a total of 10,122 runs in 125 Tests. However, he is the slowest among them to reach this landmark, having taken 197 innings.
The 35-year-old batter smashed his 31st Test half-century as India were put under pressure by New Zealand after posting 402 in the first innings.
Kohli is the second-highest Test run-getter among active players after England’s Joe Root (12,716 runs). In the overall list, he is placed in 18th spot.
Glenn Phillips finally ended Kohli’s innings for 70, which included eight fours and a six as India were 231/3 at stumps on Day 3. Sarfaraz Khan is unbeaten on 70 as India trail by 125 runs after bundling out 46 in the first innings, their lowest total at home.
Kohli and Sarfaraz had a 136-run partnership for the third wicket to stabilise the innings after the wickets of Yashasvi Jaiswal (35) and India captain Rohit Sharma (52).
Kohli has struggled to score big runs in 2024, and in 16 matches played so far across formats, he has managed to cross the 50-run mark only once. The right-handed batter will be desperate to come up with a much improved show in the home series against the Black Caps and help the Rohit Sharma-led side whitewash the Tom Latham-led side in his first series as full-time captain of the New Zealand Test cricket team.
