Virat Kohli breaks Sachin Tendulkar's long-standing record in international cricket

Virat Kohli has now scored 23,000 runs in international cricket. In addition to this, he has been the fastest cricketer to reach 23,000 international runs, achieving the mark in fewer innings than any other batsman in history, including Sachin Tendulkar. Before Kohli, only six other cricketers had completed 23,000 international runs in their careers, and all of them had done so over the course of more than 500 innings. Kohli, on the other hand, has only needed 490 innings to reach the milestone.

Before the start of the ongoing Test series against England, Kohli was 125 runs away from reaching the 23,000-run mark. Before Kohli, the record was held by former India great Sachin Tendulkar, who took 522 innings to complete 23,000 international runs. Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting (544), South African Jacques Kallis (551), Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara (568), former India skipper Rahul Dravid (576), and Sri Lanka's Mahela Jayawardene (645) are the remaining five batters who had reached 23,000 international runs in their illustrious career. 

Earlier today, when Kohli came out for the toss, he became the first India captain to lead in ten or more Tests in a single country away from home. He overtook former India skipper MS Dhoni's record of captaining in 9 Test matches in England. Sunil Gavaskar is third on the list with a record of captaining India in 8 Tests in Pakistan.  

The last time Kohli scored a century was in 2019 against Bangladesh in Kolkata's Eden Gardens. In the ongoing fourth Test against England, Kohli again reached a Test half-century but failed to convert it into a big hundred. 

India vs England 4th Test

As far as the match is concerned, England skipper Joe Root won the toss and elected to field first. England pacers Chris Woakes and Ollie Robinson struck early as they picked Indian openers Rohit Sharma and Kl Rahul for 11 and 17 runs respectively. James Anderson joined the party and sent India's Cheteshwar Pujara back to the pavilion for 4 runs. Ravindra Jadeja was the next batsman to be dismissed for 10 runs. Virat Kohli scored a beautiful 50 off 96 balls before he was trapped by Robinson for the third time in the ongoing series. Ajinkya Rahane (5*) and Rishabh Pant (0*) are currently batting in the middle with India at 105/5. 

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