Virat Kohli breaks Sachin Tendulkar's long-standing world record during 4th Test against England
Virat Kohli on Thursday broke Sachin Tendulkar's record to became the fastest to get to 23000 international runs.
Despite the prolonged absence of a noteworthy big score in Test cricket, it's difficult to keep India captain Virat Kohli away from the record books. Kohli on Thursday became the fastest to get to 23000 international runs. The Indian captain completed the milestone with a brilliant on-drive off his principal tormentor James Anderson on Day 1 of the India-England fourth Test match at The Oval.
Kohli reached 23000 international runs in just 490 innings, breaking Sachin Tendulkar's long-standing record with some ease. Sachin had reached the landmark in 522 innings. The third quickest in the list is former Australia captain Ricky Ponting who had scored 23000 international runs in 544 innings followed by former South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis (in 551 innings).
The only other Indian apart from Kohli and Sachin to score more than 23000 international runs is Rahul Dravid. The former India captain had got it in 576 innings.
Kohli is only the seventh batsman in the history of international cricket to achieve the feat.
Kohli is also among the third-highest run-scorer across formats for India only behind Sachin Tendulkar (34357 runs) and Rahul Dravid (24208 runs).
Meanwhile, India's hopes of putting up a good first innings total rested on Kohli's shoulders after England once again pushed them on the backfoot on Day 1. India were 54 for 3 after being asked to bat first on a pitch that had enough grass to keep the new-ball bowlers interested.
Kohli, who looked good in his short innings, was unbeaten on 18 and he had Ravindra Jadeja for company who was promoted to No.5 in place of an out-of-form Ajinkya Rahane.
Coming back from injury, Chris Woakes made instant impact by having Rohit Sharma (11) caught behind in his first over.
In-form Ollie Robinson then trapped K L Rahul (17) with a ball that nipped backed in. Cheteshwar Pujara followed an outswinger from James Anderson only to edge it to the wicketkeeper to leave India reeling at 39 for three.
