Virat Kohli cracked a terrific half-century in India’s victory over Australia in the third T20I, on Sunday, in Hyderabad. The right-hander scored 63 runs off 48 balls and was involved in a big partnership of 104 runs (62 balls) with Suryakumar Yadav and 48 (32) with Hardik Pandya.
Kohli, who’d come in to bat at the end of the first over after KL Rahul’s early dismissal, scored 63 runs off 48 balls with the help of 3 fours and 4 sixes.
Virat Kohli surpassed Rahul Dravid’s record for India
With the help of the 63 runs today, Virat Kohli has overtaken Rahul Dravid to become the second-leading run-scorer for India in international cricket. Kohli now has 24078 international runs in 525 innings at an average of 53, with 71 centuries and 125 fifties.
Dravid, who is currently the head coach of Team India, amassed 24064 runs in 599 international innings at an average of 45 with 48 hundreds and 145 fifties.
However, in terms of overall runs in international cricket, Dravid is still ahead of Kohli: Dravid played for Asia XI and ICC XI as well for whom he scored 144 runs – so Dravid has 24208 international runs (for India, Asia XI and ICC XI).
There are only five more batters who are ahead of Kohli and Dravid for most international runs – Jaques Kallis at number 5, Mahela Jayawardene at 4, Ricky Ponting at 3, Kumar Sangakkara at 2 and with 34357 runs Indian batting legend Sachin Tendulkar sits comfortably at the top of the mountain.
India seal series against Australia 2-1
Suryakumar Yadav continues to dazzle the fans as he stroked 69 runs off 36 balls (strike rate 191). The India number 4 batter walloped 5 fours and 5 sixes in what was one of his best T20 knocks, given the opposition – the defending T20 World Cup champions – and the high-pressure game of being a series-decider.
Apart from SKY and Kohli, Hardik Pandya scored 25 runs off 16 balls to seal the game with one ball left.
Suryakumar Yadav said: “In that situation I thought let me take my chance. I had two three shots in mind but I tried to hit over mid-off only. My mindset is pretty clear. Loving it at No. 4. There will be tough challenge but you got to express yourself and been a little smart as well.”
