The Indian skipper Virat Kohli broke a long-standing record of former Indian skipper Rahul Dravid to become the Indian player with most runs in a calendar year in overseas Test matches.
Kohli surpassed the record when he reached 82 on day two of the Boxing Day Test against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, in Melbourne, on Thursday. Unfortunately, he got in the next ball trying to ramp a Mitchell Starc short delivery, that ended straight into the hands of Aaron Finch at third man.
Virat has amassed as many as 1138 runs in 11 matches (21 innings), with potentially one more innings to go. On the other hand, in 2002, Rahul Dravid scored 1137 runs in overseas Tests in 11 matches (18 innings) at an average of 66.88 with four 100 plus scores and four fifties.
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Third on the list now is Mohinder Amarnath who scored 1065 runs in just nine matches (14 innings) at an average of 71 with four centuries and seven fifties in 1983. The great Sunil Gavaskar comes in fourth with 918 runs in 14 innings, during his debut year in international cricket in 1971.
During the ongoing series, Kohli has scored 259 runs in five innings, including the MCG’s knock. In the first series of 2018, India’s tour of South Africa, Kohli was the highest run-scorer from both sides scoring 286 runs at 47.66 in six innings. In tour of England, Kohli once again led the pack with 593 runs in ten innings.
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Dravid in 2002 played in the West Indies, scoring 404 runs in eight innings, while in England he amassed 602 runs in six innings he capped off the stellar year with 131 runs in four innings.
Most runs among Indians in a calendar year in overseas Test:
Among most runs scored in overseas Tests in a calendar year, South Africa’s Graeme Smith leads the tally with 1212 runs in 11 matches at an average of 67.33 in 2008, followed by the great Sir Viv Richards with 1154 runs in just seven matches at an average of 88.76 in 1976. Kohli is third currently but can overtake both Smith and Richards, by scoring 75 runs and 17 runs, respectively
Most runs in a calendar year in overseas Test:
