Virat Kohli Fastest Captain to Score 5000 Test Runs, Overtakes Ricky Ponting to Reach Landmark During Historic IND vs BAN D/N Test Match
Interestingly, Virat Kohli can beat Ponting again in the same Test match if he scores a century in India's first-ever day-night Test. Both Kohli and Ponting are currently tied on 19 centuries as captains and are joint second. Kohli can overtake the former Australian skipper and jump to second which will keep him only behind Graeme Smith.
Virat Kohli smashing records and rewriting them isn’t surprising anymore. The Indian captain on India's pink ball debut added another fresh feather to his already jammed hat by becoming the fastest ever cricketer to complete 5000 Test runs as captain. Kohli overtook former Australian captain Ricky Pointing to reach there. Interestingly, the 31-year-old is the only Indian captain ever to score 5000 or more runs as Test captain. The right-handed batsman, who started the pink ball Test match only 32 runs behind from reaching another milestone, reached the landmark with a luck inside-edge off concussion substitute Taijul Islam towards the on-side. India Vs Bangladesh, Live Cricket Score 2nd Test Match.
Ponting, who previously held the record, had achieved the feat in 54 matches and 97 innings, while Kohli got there in his 53rd match and 86th innings. Kohli is also only the sixth international Test captain to score 5000 runs during his tenure as skipper of a national team.
Former South African skipper Graeme Smith leads the list with 8659 runs, while Australian great Allan Border is third in the list of most runs as captain with 6623 runs. Ricky Ponting (6542 runs), Clive Lloyd (5233 runs) and Stephen Fleming (5156 runs) complete the elite list of captains to have scored 5000 or more runs as captain.
Kohli, who arrived at the crease following the dismissal of Rohit Sharma in the 13th over, has steadied the Indian ship with half-century runs partnership with Cheteshwar Pujara. The Indian skipper has so far hit five boundaries for 34 runs in his 54-ball stay at the crease.
Interestingly, he can beat Ponting again in the same Test match if he scores a century in India's first-ever day-night Test. Both Kohli and Ponting are currently tied on 19 centuries as captains and are joint second. Kohli can overtake the former Australian skipper and jump to second which will keep him only behind Smith, who leads the captains centuries’ list with 25 hundreds.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 22, 2019 07:35 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).