Stats: Fastest to score 3000 Test runs as captain

Indian skipper Virat Kohli notched up his third consecutive hundred in the ongoing Test series against Sri Lanka. India and Lanka are competing in the third Test at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in Delhi. Kohli started the series with a hundred in Kolkata and followed it up with a double hundred in Nagpur, and his appetite for biggies didn’t take a break as he scored yet another one, this time at his home ground.

The right-hand batsman scored the fastest hundred of his career, coming in 110 balls. This was his 13th ton as captain for India and the first at this venue. In the process, Kohli also went past the 5000-run mark, becoming only the tenth Indian to achieve the feat. He is also the fourth fastest to reach the mark after Sunil Gavaskar, Virender Sehwag and Sourav Ganguly.

This was Kohli’s fourth hundred against Sri Lanka this year, and the skipper has already scored the fifth double hundred of his career in the ongoing series. He is also the leading run scorer in this series, scoring over 450 runs and adding to the agony of the Lankans.

Kohli in elite company

The 29-year old is the fastest Indian to reach the 3000-run mark, as he achieved the feat in just 50 innings, as the captain of the side. Previously, Sunil Gavaskar achieved the feat in 58 innings while MS Dhoni took 82 innings to reach the magical figure. Looking at the all-time list, Sir Donald Bradman is at the top. It took the Australian great 23 matches and 37 innings to score 3000 runs as the skipper of the Australian unit.

Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardene is second in the list (29 matches,48 innings).Graham Gooch is at the third spot (27 matches, 49 innings).  Australian current skipper Steve Smith reached the mark in 28 matches and 49 innings and finds himself above Kohli (32 matches, 50 innings).

Table: Fastest to score 3000 Test runs as captain