Hyderabad: India batting stalwart Virat Kohli, who has sealed the number 4 spot since India's batting great Sachin Tendulkar retired from Test cricket, has returned to the number three position after eight years.
Kohli regularly bats at number three in ODIs and T20Is, but when it comes to Test cricket, he usually comes to bat at number four. As India missed the services of their regular number three batter Shubman Gill, Kohli was promoted to bat up the order to pave the way to fit in youngster Sarfaraz Khan in the middle order.
1ST Test. WICKET! 6.3: Rohit Sharma 2(16) b Tim Southee, India 9/1 https://t.co/8qhNBrs1td #INDvNZ @IDFCFIRSTBank
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 17, 2024
After the first day was washed out due to persistent rain, Indian captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat on Day 2 morning. However, they didn't get the start they were looking for, as they lost captain Rohit Sharm early on in the innings. Rohit managed to score only two runs in his short stay at the crease.
The 35-year-old Virat, who has played 116 Tests for India since 2011, has played at number three in only four Test, with last innings dates back to August 9, 2016 when India toured to West Indies in 2016. In Gros Islet Test, Kohli's scores in the match were four runs in the first and three in the second innings.
Notably, Virat Kohli's batting average while batting at number three in the red-ball format is the worst among the other batting numbers where he batted at least in five innings. Kohli has scored 97 runs in six innings with highest score of 41 against Australia in Delhi in 2013. He averages only 19.40 at number three in Tests.
🚨 Playing XI 🚨
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 17, 2024
Take a look at #TeamIndia's Playing XI for the Test series opener 💪
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Kohli's best comes while batting at number and has batted at the same spot in majority of the occasions. Kohli has amassed 7,355 runs in 91 Test (148 innings) with the help of 25 hundreds and 21 half-centuries at an average of 52.53. He has also batted on number five, six and seven. At No. 5, the right-hand batter has amassed 1080 runs (38.57 average) while 404 runs have come while at number six in five games at an average of 44.88. He has batted at number seven only once and has scored 11 runs.
