Kohli fastest Indian captain to hit 1,000 overseas Test runs
Virat Kohli became the fastest Indian captain to score 1,000 runs in overseas Test matches, achieving the milestone in his 17th away Test innings as captain against Sri Lanka on Friday. Kohli surpassed the record of Sachin Tendulkar who had reached the milestone in his 19th innings. Notably, Kohli became the seventh Indian captain to score 1,000-plus overseas Test runs.
Virat Kohli is turning to be Indian cricket?s new milestone man. With almost every innings, he is improving his personal records. During his sweetly hit half-century in the second inning of the opening Test at the Galle International Stadium on Friday, he completed 1000 runs in Tests as captain outside India. (India vs Sri Lanka, 1st cricket Test, Day 3: Highlights)It is a record he will be most proud of, and that is mainly on two counts. First, it?s how well you play away from home that determines your rating as a batsman. It also shows he is thriving in the responsibility of leadership than feel burdened by it.READ | Was Virat Kohli really out on Day 1 vs Sri Lanka? TV umpire caught in hot-spotThe knock was also important for Kohli because he was one of the two top-order batsmen to miss out in the first innings. After getting Kohli out to a bouncer in the first innings, Sri Lanka pace bowler Nuwan Pradeep had spoken about targeting Kohli with the short ball. Surprisingly, they hardly tested the Indian captain with the short stuff in the second essay. READ | India vs Sri Lanka: KL?Rahul recovers from fever, trains with Indian team in?GalleOne reason could be that the first innings effort had taken a toll on the Sri Lankan pace bowlers. As a result, the battle everyone was waiting for didn?t materialise. Kohli was at his fluent best, his feet were moving well, and be it the forward stretch or the backfoot punch, the ball was hitting the sweet spot.READ | India vs Sri Lanka: Plan worked against Virat Kohli, says Nuwan PradeepWhen Pradeep came on for his second spell, Kohli greeted him with back-to-back fours, first a trademark cover drive before tucking the next ball to square leg. Pradeep?s figures read 35 runs in six wicketless overs.With the fifty, Kohli had stretched India?s lead to 446.