Virat Kohli made a roaring comeback with the bat as he struck an impressive fifty in the all-important fourth Test against Australia at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Saturday (March 11). Riding on his unbeaten 53 off 115 as of 94 overs, Kohli achieved a rare milestone on Day 3 of the Ahmedabad Test as he became only the fifth Indian to cross the 4000-run mark in Tests in India. He stepped on the landmark milestone as soon he scored 42 runs. Kohli got there with a boundary against Nathan Lyon in the 87th over of the Indian innings.
Kohli has now stormed into the elite list of Sachin Tendulkar (7216), Rahul Dravid (5598), Sunil Gavaskar (5067), and Virender Sehwag (4656).
Indian batters to amass most runs at home on Indian soil
Sachin Tendulkar - 7216 runs in 94 matches
Rahul Dravid - 5598 runs in 70 matches
Sunil Gavaskar - 5067 runs in 65 matches
Virender Sehwag - 4656 runs in 52 matches
Virat Kohli - 4000* runs in 50 matches
Kohli didn't get off to a good start as he was seen struggling with couple of deliveries at the start of his innings. But ball by ball he gathered himself and built his innings and paired up with Shubman Gill to weave a 59-run stand before the latter was sent to pavilion after scoring a brilliant 128 off 235.
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The fourth Test in Ahmedabad also marked Kohli's 50th Test appearance in India. He became the 13th Indian and 3rd active to feature in at least 50 Tests for India at home. Only, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravichandran Ashwin are the active Indians to play more than 50 tests at home. Pujara played his 50th Test when he took the field in the previous match in Indore, while Ashwin is playing his 55th in Ahmedabad.
Kohli has so far played 77 Test innings at home and has the highest score of 254 runs. In his Test career, the 34-year-old has smashed 13 centuries and 12 fifties in India so far.
India will rely on their run-machine Kohli, who hasn't scored big in Tests for quite a long time now. While Kohli will look to convert his half century into a perfect ton and held India get past Australia's first innings' 480 to lift India's chances of winning the last match of the ongoing Border Gavaskar series, which will also pave their path for the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023 final which will be held at the Oval from June 7. Meanwhile, Australia have already booked their WTC 2023 final berth after bulldozing India by nine wickets in the third Test.
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