Dubai: An unbeaten knock of 254 runs by Indian skipper Virat Kohli in the first innings of the ongoing Pune Test match was another display of his huge appetite for scoring runs.
It was his seventh double century in Tests and Kohli has now gone past India’s Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag, who had hit six double centuries each in their career. Kohli has now hit double centuries against Bangladesh, England, New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka and West Indies and is in a race to get past Sir Donald Bradman, who has 12 against his name, Kumar Sangakkara (11) and Brian Lara (nine).
Kohli also has gone past the 7000-run mark in Test cricket from only his 138th innings. All records will be tumbling in front of Kohli’s consistency. Before the start of the Pune Test, he averaged 53.12 and his highest score was 243 against Sri Lanka in 2017. Now he has joined VVS Laxman, Sehwag, Rahul Dravid and Karun Nair, who had hit over 250 runs in an innings. He could have become India’s third triple century maker but he declared the Indian innings - putting his team’s victory chase before a personal milestone.
A ruthless approach, along with his ability to destroy any bowling, has made Kohli the most feared batsman in the world today. Be it any format, Kohli can shape his innings to score profusely. His 43 centuries from One Day Internationals is ample proof of it. His average in all formats is over 50, starting with T20 (50.00), ODI (60.31) and Test cricket (60.31).
Kohli’s knock also comes at a time when Australia’s Steve Smith, following his return from ban, is very much in the frame to be the best batsman in the world today. Whether Kohli ends up as the highest run getter in cricket history or not, with this knock he has gone past the legendary Don Bradman’s run tally of 6996 runs.
When any batsman scores profusely, the benchmark is usually called ‘Bradmanesque.’ Isn’t time for the term ‘Kohli-esque’ to start now?
