[Watch] Virat Kohli becomes first batter to score fifty in his 500th international match

Team India batter Virat Kohli, on Thursday, created history, becoming the first batter to notch up a half-century in his 500th international game. After India were sent into bat by West Indies in the second Test in Trinidad, Kohli ended Day 1 unbeaten on 87 off 161 balls.

The visitors got off to a great start with the bat as openers Rohit Sharma (80 off 143) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (57 off 74) added 139 for the first wicket. However, India lost their way in the second session and found themselves in some trouble at 182/4 as Shubman Gill (10) and Ajinkya Rahane (8) perished cheaply.

Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja (36* off 84) then added an unbroken 106 for the fifth wicket to bring India back on track. They went to stumps at 288/4. The former reached his fifty with a cover drive off Jomel Warrican for four.

During the course of his innings, the 34-year-old also went past Virender Sehwag's record and moved up to the No. 5 slot among Indian batters with the most runs in Test cricket. The right-handed batter began the day needing 32 runs to overtake Sehwag’s tally of 8586 runs. He later also went past former Aussie opener Matthew Hayden’s Test tally of 8625 runs.

Among batters with the most runs in Test cricket, Kohli is now in 24th position. Among Indian players, only Sachin Tendulkar (15,921 runs in 200 Tests) current coach Rahul Dravid (13288 runs in 164 Tests), Sunil Gavaskar (10122 runs in 125 matches), and VVS Laxman (8781 runs in 134 Tests) are above Kohli on the illustrious list.

Meanwhile, the star Indian batter also surpassed South African legend Jacques Kallis’ tally of 25,534 runs to move to No. 5 on the list of batters with the most runs in international cricket.

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Can Kohli go on to break his overseas century drought?

Kohli, who struck eight fours in his resolute knock on Thursday in Trinidad, now needs only 13 runs to complete a hundred. If he does so on Day 2 of the Test match, it will be his first Test century away from home since December 2018.

The former India captain’s previous overseas hundred came against Australia in Perth in December 2018 when he scored 123 off 257 balls in India’s first innings. The visitors, however, ended up losing the Test by 146 runs.