IND vs SA 1st Test: Virat Kohli Achieves Rare Batting Record Never Ever Made By Any Batter In 146 Years Of Cricket History

Virat Kohli. (Image: AP)

Even with India losing the first Test by a huge margin of an innings and 32 runs, Virat Kohli was able to make another batting record. No, he did not score a hundred. He scored a fifty, making a solid 76 off 82 balls in the second innings, including 12 fours and 1 six respectively. That coupled with 38 in the first innings, took him to a world record, something which had never been done in 146 years of cricket history.

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Kohli’s runs in the Centurion Test helped him go past 2000 runs across format in 2023. This is the seventh time Kohli has gone past 2000 international runs in a calendar year, making him the first-ever batter to do this. Kohli finished 2023 with a total of 2048 runs from just 35 matches across formats. The batter with most runs in 2023 is Shubman Gill, who finished with 2154 runs but he took 48 matches to do this. Daryl Mitchell has scored 1970 runs in 49 matches in 2023 so far.

Coming back to Kohli, his achievements are becoming impossible to overcome by the next generation of batters. He had previously achieved the feat of 2000 or more runs in a calendar year, in 2012 (2186 runs), 2014 (2286 runs), 2016 (2595 runs), 2017 (2818 runs), 2018 (2735 runs) and 2019 (2455 runs). No other player, since international cricket was first played in 1877 (as per official record), has any other player achieved the feat.

India were not helped by collective failure of the batters and bowlers in the first Test. Even without Lungu Ngidi and Temba Bavuma (SA captain who missed most part of the Test due to an injury he sustained durin the match), South Africa turned out to be too good for the visitors. Led By Dean Elgar, who is playing his last Test series, South Africa posted 408 on the board in the first innings after India were bowled out for 245. Had KL Rahul not batted brilliantly in the first innings, the margin of defeat would have been much higher. Thanks to his gutsy 101, India managed to put up 245. 

But in the second innings, barring Kohli, nobody stood up and the loss became evident after Kagiso Rabada and Co removed the top-order for almost nothing on the board. India will have to pull up their socks as they aim to make a strong comeback in the 2nd Test which starts on January 3.