India captain Virat Kohli and wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant are on the verge of reaching major milestones in Test cricket, ahead of their three-match series against South Africa starting December 26 in Centurion.
Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sunil Gavaskar, VVS Laxman and Virender Sehwag are the first five Indians to reach 8000 Test runs.
Kohli, who hasn’t scored an international hundred in over 2 years, could become the third fastest Indian to get there after Tendulkar (154 innings), Dravid (158 innings) and Sehwag (160 innings) if he somehow manages to score 199 in the first innings of the Boxing Day Test at the SuperSport Park.
Overall, Kohli will be the 33rd batsman to amass 8000 career runs in Test cricket.
Kohli has so far played 97 Tests and scored 7801 runs at an average of 50.65. He is tied in 17th place on the list of most hundreds (27) in the format along with Steve Smith, Allan Border and Graeme Smith.
Meanwhile, another Indian player is on the verge of achieving a major record during the South Africa series in Rishabh Pant, who is nearing 100 dismissals in Test cricket.
Pant currently has 97 dismissals from 25 Tests and will become the sixth Indian wicketkeeper to get to the landmark and will be joint-fifth fastest overall, if he achieves the feat in the series-opener vs South Africa.
