XtraTime Web Desk: Indian skipper Virat Kohli overtook Rahul Dravid in the list of top scorers for India in a calendar year with his effort in the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne.
Virat missed his century as he got dismissed by Mitchell Starc for 82 but it was enough for him to get past Rahul Dravid as the most successful Indian batsman abroad in a calendar year.
Dravid scored 1137 runs in 11 games in 2002 including West Indies, England and New Zealand He had four half-centuries as well from 18 innings, averaging 66.88 for the period.
Kohli’s knocks have come in South Africa, England and Australia. He too has four centuries so far: 153 at Centurion, 149 in Birmingham, 103 in Nottingham and 123 in Perth – to go with five fifties, giving him an average of 54.19. It puts him on 1138 runs for the year, just ahead of Dravid, but he’s not necessarily done yet.
The India captain still has a chance to add to his tally in the second innings of the Boxing Day Test.
With one innings to go, Kohli is comfortably ahead on the list of leading run-getters for 2018. Overall in Tests, this year he has 1322 runs so far, with Kusal Mendis, who is playing against New Zealand in Christchurch, and Joe Root following him on 956 runs so far and 948 runs respectively.