Former India captain Virat Kohli will make his return to the Test cricket arena as Rohit Sharma's side faces Bangladesh in the first Test starting on September 19 at the M. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Kohli will be aiming to continue his pursuit of reaching 9,000 runs in Test cricket and to keep pace with the elite group known as the 'Fab Four', which includes Joe Root, Steve Smith, and Kane Williamson, in addition to the Indian batsman.
In the upcoming two-match Test series against Bangladesh, Kohli has the opportunity to achieve a significant milestone. He could become the first cricketer in 147 years to accomplish a rare feat that even the legendary Sachin Tendulkar did not manage to achieve.
Kohli needs just 58 runs to reach a total of 27,000 runs in international cricket - across Tests, ODIs, and T20Is. Tendulkar holds the record for the fastest to reach this milestone, achieving it in 623 innings - 226 in Tests, 396 in ODIs, and 1 in T20Is. However, Kohli has played only 591 innings to date, putting him in a position to potentially become the first player in the last 147 years to reach 27,000 runs in fewer than 600 innings.
In addition to Sachin Tendulkar, former Australian captain Ricky Ponting and former Sri Lanka wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara have also achieved the milestone of scoring 27,000 runs in international cricket.
Virat Kohli is on the verge of reaching 9,000 runs in Test cricket, needing just 152 more runs to achieve this feat. If Kohli manages to reach this milestone in the upcoming four innings against Bangladesh, he will surpass former England opener Graham Gooch's total of 8,900 Test runs.
Furthermore, Kohli is aiming to surpass Sir Donald Bradman on the list of most Test centuries. Both Kohli and Bradman currently have 29 Test centuries to their names. By scoring his 30th Test century, Kohli will equal the record held by former Australia opener Matthew Hayden and former West Indies batter Shivnarine Chanderpaul.
Also read| 'Will strangle him...': When Sunil Gavaskar 'predicted' young Sachin Tendulkar would score 15,000 Test runs
