The former all-format captain for the Indian team, Virat Kohli, has added a new feather to his career, becoming the second most capped player for the Blue Brigade in international cricket when he took the field during the opening Test of the three-match series against New Zealand at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
The home captain, Rohit Sharma, won the toss and decided to bat first on a surface that was under the covers for nearly four days due to the persistent rain of the city and was dried up. The overcast conditions were always expected to make it harder for the batters, and it continued to do so.
In the absence of their regular number three batter, Shubman Gill, the management decided to promote Virat Kohli to the number three position, where he already struggles in the red-ball format with an average of below 20, the last occasion of which came eight years ago.
The conditions were very hard at the start when India lost their captain early in the innings. The former captain of the side walked out and faced eight deliveries before edging the ninth one to return for a duck. In the past and even in the present, most of the time, the veteran gets out with an outside edge, and that tempts him to stand on the backfoot regularly, which was the exact reason for this dismissal.
Virat Kohli becomes India’s second most capped player
The whole batting line-up was blown away for just 46 runs in the first innings, with as many as five batters collecting ducks beside their name. They were destroyed for 46 runs in the innings, which is now their third-lowest score in an innings of the five-day format and the lowest at home in a Test match.
However, it was a new milestone game for Virat Kohli, who went past the former World Cup-winning captain of India, MS Dhoni (535 caps), to become the second most capped player for the Blue Brigade in the 536th international match.
The top spot has been secured by Sachin Tendulkar, with 664 appearances across formats in a career that has spanned 24 years from 1989 to 2013. The Delhi-born is followed by the current ODI and Test captain of the Indian team, Rohit Sharma (486), and then Ravindra Jadeja (346) in the list.
When it comes to most international games all over, Virat Kohli is still three games behind Dhoni, who has played three encounters for the Asian side. The former has cracked 27041 runs at an average of over 53, shouldering on 80 centuries at a best score of unbeaten 254 runs.
Tendulkar is at the top in world cricket with 664 appearances, followed by 652 for Mahela Jayawardene, who featured in 652 games in his 18-year-old career.
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The 35-year-old has recently retired from the shortest format of the game, having won the country’s second and his first T20 World Cup in 2024 in the United States of America and the West Indies. He made his international debut in an ODI against Sri Lanka away from home in 2008, when he opened the batting with the current head coach, Gautam Gambhir, as their regular opening batter, Virender Sehwag, was injured.
Most international matches for India
| Player | Span | Matches | Runs |
| Sachin Tendulkar | 1989-2013 | 664 | 34357 |
| Virat Kohli | 2008-2024 | 536* | 27041 |
| MS Dhoni | 2004-2019 | 535 | 17092 |
| Rahul Dravid | 1996-2012 | 504 | 24064 |
| Rohit Sharma | 2007-2024 | 486 | 19276 |