Virat Kohli broke Sachin Tendulkar’s record for most runs by an Indian batsman in South Africa across formats during his knock of 76 off 82 balls in the second innings of the Centurion Test against South Africa.
On Thursday, December 28, India lost to the Proteas by an innings and 32 runs at the SuperSport Park in Centurion. After South Africa scored 408 in their first innings to take a significant lead of 163, India were bundled out for 131 in 31.4 overs in their second essay.
Kohli was the lone ranger for the visitors in the second innings as he hit 12 fours and a six with a fluent strike. During his innings, he also surpassed Tendulkar on the list of Indian batsmen with the most runs in international cricket in South Africa.
The 35-year-old now has 1786 runs across the format in South Africa from 35 innings at an average of 57.61 with five scores and nine fifties. Tendulkar scored 1724 runs in 51 innings at an average of 35.91 with six hundreds and four fifties.
Of Kohli’s 1786 runs, 833 came in Tests in 16 innings at an average of 52.06 with two hundreds and four fifties. Kohli smashed 898 in 16 ODI innings at an average of 74.83 with three hundreds and five fifties. He has 55 runs from three innings at a strike rate of 125 in T20Is.
Before scoring 76 in the second innings at Centurion, he looked good in the first innings as well. The right-hander scored 38 off 64, hitting five fours, but received a jaffa from Kagiso Rabada, who he could only clip behind the wickets.
India conceded 245 runs in the first innings. KL Rahul topped the table with 101 points. South Africa responded with over 400, Dean Elgar with 185 and Marco Janssen with an unbeaten 84.
Indian batsmen in South Africa run the majority
While Kohli and Tendulkar are the first two names on the list of Indian batsmen with most runs in South Africa across formats, current head coach Rahul Dravid is third. He scored 1136 runs in 33 innings at an average of 1950 and an average of 36.64.
Dravid is followed by former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly (897 runs from 25 innings) and MS Dhoni (872 runs from 34 innings).
Meanwhile, Kohli (8790) also went past VVS Laxman (8781) to become India’s fourth highest run-getter in Test cricket with his second-innings knock in Centurion.
