ENG vs IND 2018: Virat Kohli Equals The Likes Of Sachin Tendulkar And Rahul Dravid After Scoring 50-Plus In Both Innings Of Edgbaston Test

Virat Kohli, on Saturday, became the fifth Indian player to score over 50 in both the innings of a Test where no other player of his side could cross the 49-run mark. The India skipper achieved the feat after scoring 149 and 51 in the first England vs India Test at Edgbaston.

India lost the low-scoring thriller by 31 runs in the first session of day four. One of the prime reasons behind the defeat was the failure of the batsmen apart from Kohli.

The 29-year old waged a lone battle, making 149 in the first innings before scoring a composed 51 in the second. However, his heroic effort went in vain due to lack of support from the other end.  The likes of Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul and Ajinkya Rahane absolutely failed with the bat.

While Kohli made 200 runs in the Test, the other four in the top-five aggregated only 99. India were off to a good start in the first innings. Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay added 50 runs for the first wicket. However, from thereon, none of the batsmen barring Kohli could apply himself in the testing conditions. India were reeling at 100 for 5 before Kohli rescued them.

The bulk of Kohli’s 149 came in the company of the lower-order batsmen. As a result, India managed to recover and post 274 in reply to England’s 287.

It was no better in the second innings as India were reduced to 78 for 5 during their chase. Dinesh Karthik, who was out for a duck in the first essay, tried to stick around with Kohli but he was dismissed for 20 in the first over of the fourth day.

And when Kohli was dismissed for 51, India still needed 63 runs to win. Hardik Pandya tried to keep India in the game but he was eventually the last man dismissed, falling to Ben Stokes.

But defeat apart, Kohli managed to enter the record books for scoring 50-plus scores in both the innings. He became just the sixth Indian to achieve this feat.

Dilip Vengsarkar was the first to achieve it when he had scored 61 and 102* against England in 1986. Sachin Tendulkar achieved the feat twice against Australia while Rahul Dravid (West Indies) and MS Dhoni (England) did it once.