IND vs NZ, 2nd Test: Virat Kohli Creates HISTORY, Becomes First Player Ever To...

Photo : AP
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
  • India are taking on New Zealand in the first Test in Bengaluru.
  • Virat Kohli scored 70 in the second innings.
  • He became the first Indian to achieve a massive feat.
India are currently taking on New Zealand in the first Test of the three-match series at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Virat Kohli was one of the players to watch out for, as everyone hoped that he would finally return to form in the longest format of the game. After scoring a duck in the first innings, Kohli finally showed some form in Team India's second innings, as he scored 70 runs. With this half-century, Virat Kohli now has achieved a massive milestone that no Indian has ever achieved.

Virat Kohli Becomes First Indian To Achieve Massive Milestone

With Shubman Gill missing out due to a stiff neck, Virat Kohli was promoted to No.3 in the batting order for the match, a place above his usual spot at no.4. With this 70-run knock, Kohli has now scored 15,028 runs at no.3 across all formats. He thus becomes the first player in history to slam 15,000 runs batting at no.3. Overall he becomes the fourth player to achieve this feat after Ricky Ponting, Kumar Sangakkara and Kane Williamson.
Here are the players with the most runs at no.3 across all formats of international cricket:
Ricky Ponting- 22869 Runs
Kumar Sangakkara- 22011 Runs
Kane Williamson- 15696 Runs
Virat Kohli- 15028 Runs
Rahul Dravid- 14555 Runs
FOLLOW: India Vs New Zealand 1st Test Day 4 LIVE UPDATES

Why Was Virat Kohli Promoted To No.3?

In an interaction after the play on Day 2, India captain Rohit Sharma said that they wanted to play Sarfaraz Khan at his usual position in the middle or lower-middle order at no.4, 5, or 6. While there were calls to promote KL Rahul to no.3 in the absence of Gill, Rohit said that they did not want to change the batting order of both Rahul and Rishabh Pant. Hence, it was Virat Kohli who was promoted to no.3.
"We wanted to give Sarfraz the position that he usually bats four, five, six maybe. But we didn't want to change Rishabh and KL (Rahul). Hence, Sarfraz went at four and Virat batted at three," Rohit said.
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