Resuming Day 3 at 87/4, Team India had their backs against the wall. However, the pair of Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni saved the home team from a potentially dire situation. The duo added 198 runs during their marathon partnership that spanned well over two sessions. During this stand, Kohli brought up his third Test hundred, which also happens to be his longest Test innings so far. The young Delhi lad, who scored 103 invaluable runs, also went past Australian skipper Michael Clarke as the highest run aggregator in international cricket for the ongoing calendar year.
Here are these and many more stats highlights from a very engaging day of Test cricket:
Virat Kohli (103) scored his third Test hundred in his 14th Test – his first against England. Kohli’s previous highest against England was a paltry 20 at Kolkata.
Kohli’s 295-ball innings is his longest in Test cricket. He had faced 213 balls for his career-best 116 against Australia at Adelaide in January 2012.
This hundred was Kohli’s eighth in international cricket in 2012. All other Indians have a combined tally of eight!
Kohli has now aggregated most runs in international cricket in 2012. He went ahead of Australia’s Michael Clarke’s tally of 2088 runs.
Most runs in international cricket in 2012:
|
Players |
Mts |
Runs |
Hs |
Avg |
100 |
50 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Virat Kohli (Ind) |
35 |
2091 |
183 |
58.08 |
8 |
10 |
|
Michael Clarke (Aus) |
25 |
2088 |
329* |
74.57 |
5 |
7 |
|
Kumar Sangakkara (SL) |
50 |
2000 |
199* |
41.66 |
5 |
7 |
|
Hashim Amla (SA) |
30 |
1950 |
311* |
62.90 |
6 |
6 |
|
Alastair Cook (Eng) |
30 |
1899 |
190 |
48.69 |
7 |
6 |
|
Tillakaratne Dilshan (SL) |
49 |
1841 |
160* |
37.57 |
6 |
7 |
|
David Warner (Aus) |
48 |
1832 |
180 |
35.23 |
4 |
8 |
|
Michael Hussey (Aus) |
40 |
1677 |
150* |
44.13 |
4 |
8 |
|
Marlon Samuels (WI) |
36 |
1673 |
260 |
50.69 |
5 |
8 |
|
Mahela Jayawardene (SL) |
48 |
1664 |
180 |
34.66 |
2 |
10 |
The last time an Indian batsman was the leading run-scorer in international cricket in a calendar year was in 2008 when Virender Sehwag aggregated 2355 runs. Gautam Gambhir was second with 2262 runs that year.
India did not lose a single wicket in the first two sessions. The last time an Indian pair had batted through two consecutive sessions in a Test was against Australia at Bangalore in 2010-11. Murali Vijay and Sachin Tendulkar were batsmen then.
The 198-run partnership between Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni is India’s second best for the fifth wicket against England after the 214-run partnership between Mohammad Azharuddin and Ravi Shastri at Kolkata in 1984-85.
MS Dhoni became the eighth Indian (and the ninth occasion) to be dismissed on 99. Sourav Ganguly suffered this fate twice. Dhoni is the second after ML Jaisimha (v Pakistan at Kanpur in 1960-61) to be run-out on this score.
Dhoni is the first wicketkeeper and also the first captain to be run-out on 99. Overall he is the 15th batsman to be run-out just one short of a century.
Interestingly the last batsman to be run-out on 99 before Dhoni was Sri Lanka’s Angelo Mathews at Mumbai WS in 2009-10. It was Dhoni who ran him out off Sachin Tendulkar's throw!
Both Kohli (295 balls) and Dhoni (246 balls) played their longest innings in Test cricket.
