Mumbai: Virat Kohli is breaking records and reaching milestones with a consummate ease. On Saturday, on day three of the fourth India versus England Test at the Wankhede Stadium, he completed 1000 runs in Test cricket in 2016; becoming only the 4th cricketer to do so this year following Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root and Alastair Cook; and crossed 4000-run mark in the longer format of the game.
On Sunday, he brought up his third Test double hundred to become the first batsman to have scored three double tons in a calendar year. While Sir Don Bradman and Rahul Dravid, two of the best batsmen in the history of the game, had scored double tons in three consecutive series, they were spanned across years.
Kohli also became the first Indian captain to score three double centuries.
With his highest score (235) in Tests, Kohli also went past MS Dhoni’s 224 against Australia in 2013 to top the list of highest score by an Indian captain in a Test innings.
The Indian Test skipper, who had 405 runs against his name, in the ongoing series against England, took his run tally to 640 and now holds the record of having scored most runs by an India in a bilateral series against England overtaking Dravid’s 602 in 2002 series in England.
Kohli also joined Brendon McCullum in the list of captains who have scored three double tons in a calendar year. If he scores another by the end of this series, he will equal Michael Clarke’s 2012 record of registering four double hundreds as a captain.
Kohli, who has amassed 739 ODI runs, 641 T20I runs and 1200 Test runs in 2016, now has 2580 runs in international cricket this year. Add to that already incredible run-tally, his staggering 973 runs from 16 games in IPL 2016.
