Virat Kohli left his legion of fans disappointed after failing to make a good start count in his 100th Test but India steadily moved to 199 for four at tea on the opening day of the first Test against Sri Lanka here on Friday.
At exactly 11 am, the 5000 odd people roared in unison as 'King Kohli' emerged from the dressing room after opener Mayank Agarwal's dismissal.
A picture-perfect straight drive off left-arm seamer Vishwa Fernando (11-1-50-1) was soothing for the eyes as he reached 8000 Test runs during the course of his 45 off 76 balls that also had four more hits to the fence.
A square-cut that beat deep point manned to save boundary was delightful but left-arm spinner Lasith Embuldeniya (20-1-62-2) got one that pitched one length and turned away to clip the bails of Kohli's off-stump, leading to a stunned silence.
8000* for Virat Kohli
However, Kohli made sure that he gives something to the fans before getting dismissed as he achieved yet another milestone during his historic 100th Test match as he became the sixth Indian batter to score 8,000 Test runs for India.
His milestone came against Sri Lanka in the 1st Test match here at the PCA IS Bindra stadium. Virat Kohli joins legends like Sachin Tendulkar (15,921), Rahul Dravid (13,288), Sunil Gavaskar (10,122), VVS Laxman (8,781), and Virender Sehwag (8,586) who amassed 8,000 or more runs in Test cricket for India.
Virat Kohli has struck 27 centuries and 28 half-centuries en route to his 8,000 run in the longer format of the game with the highest score of 254 not out.
Virat Kohli's Last International Century?
Virat Kohli scored his last international century on 22nd November 2019. Kohli scored his last test century on 22nd November 2019 at Eden Gardens against Bangladesh and the last ODI century on 14th August 2019 at Queen's Park Oval against West Indies.
