London [UK], September 2 : India skipper Virat Kohli on Thursday became the fastest batsman in the history of the game to register 23,000 international runs. Kohli achieved the feat in the opening session of the opening day of the fourth Test against England here at the Oval on Thursday. The Indian skipper took just 490 innings to register the feat while Sachin Tendulkar had taken 522 innings to achieve the same milestone. Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting had taken 544 innings to score 23,000 international runs. Kohli has been going through a lean patch of late as he has not registered a single ton in international cricket for 51 innings. He last scored a century way back in 2019 against Bangladesh at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata. Coming back to the ongoing match, India lost the wickets of Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Cheteshwar Pujara as England dominated the opening session of the fourth Test at the Kennington Oval. At lunch, India’s score read 54/3 with Kohli (18*) and Ravindra Jadeja (2*) unbeaten at the crease. In the first session, 25 overs were bowled and the English bowlers made sure they repaid the faith shown by skipper Joe Root as he won the toss and decided to bowl. Sent into bat, the Indian openers — Rohit and Rahul — mixed caution with aggression and the duo saw out the opening spells of James Anderson and Ollie Robinson. However, the introduction of Chris Woakes paid off straight away as he dismissed Rohit (11), ending the 28-run opening stand. Pujara next joined Rahul in the middle and the duo found the going tough and they did not score a single run for almost five overs, and this eventually brought about a wicket, as Rahul (17) was trapped in front by Ollie Robinson, reducing India to 28/2. Pujara (4) also failed to leave a mark with the bat as he chased a wide delivery and his wicket was grabbed by James Anderson, reducing India to 39/3 in the 20th over. In the end, Kohli and Jadeja ensured that India went into the lunch break without losing any further wicket.
