Virat Kohli breaks Sachin Tendulkar’s record during second innings knock in Centurion Test

Virat Kohli broke Sachin Tendulkar’s record for the most runs by an Indian batter in South Africa across formats following his 76-run knock off 82 balls in the second innings of the Centurion Test against South Africa.

India went down to the Proteas by an innings and 32 runs at the SuperSport Park in Centurion on Thursday, December 28. After South Africa posted 408 in their first innings, gaining a significant lead of 163, India folded up for 131 in 31.4 overs in their second essay.

Kohli was the lone ranger for the visitors in the second innings, striking 12 fours and a six in his fluent knock. During his innings, he also surpassed Tendulkar on the list of Indian batters with the most runs in international cricket in South Africa.

The 35-year-old now has 1786 runs to his name across format in South Africa from 35 innings, averaging 57.61 with five hundreds and nine fifties. Tendulkar had scored 1724 runs in 51 innings at an average of 35.91 with six hundreds and four fifties.

Of Kohli’s 1786 runs, 833 have come in Tests in 16 innings at an average of 52.06 with two hundreds and four fifties. Kohli has smashed 898 in 16 innings ODIs, averaging 74.83 with three hundreds and five fifties. In T20Is, he has 55 runs from three innings at a strike rate of 125.

Before scoring 76 in the second innings in Centurion, he was looking good in the first innings as well. The right-hander scored 38 off 64, hitting five fours, but got a jaffa from Kagiso Rabada, which he could only nick behind the wickets.

India were all out for 245 in their first innings, with KL Rahul top-scoring with 101. South Africa responded with a 400-plus score as Dean Elgar scored 185, while Marco Jansen contributed an unbeaten 84.

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Most runs by Indian batters in South Africa

While Kohli and Tendulkar are the top two names on the list of Indian batters with the 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 36.64 with one hundred and nine fifties.

Dravid is followed by former India captain Sourav Ganguly (897 runs from 25 innings) and MS Dhoni (872 runs from 34 innings).

Meanwhile, with his second-innings knock in Centurion, Kohli (8790) also went past VVS Laxman (8781) to become India’s fourth-highest run-getter in Test cricket.