WTC Final: 5 interesting stats to emerge after Day 2 of India vs New Zealand match
The first-ever WTC Final got underway on Saturday (June 19) with New Zealand winning the toss and inviting India to bat first. The Indian team started off well, thanks to Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma's 62-run opening partnership.
However, the Kiwi pacers brought their team back into the game by dismissing Gill, Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara before India's score touched 100. Indian captain Virat Kohli and his deputy Ajinkya Rahane built an unbeaten 58-run stand for the fourth wicket to take the team's total to 146/3 before bad light compelled the umpires to end the day early.
Some amazing records were created on Day 2 of the WTC Final. Here's a look at the five interesting stats to emerge from the battle between India and New Zealand.
1. Virat Kohli becomes India's most capped Test captain
Virat Kohli has been one of the most successful captains in Indian cricket history. Under his leadership, the Indian team has finished at the top of the ICC Test Rankings in each of the last five years.
While Kohli became the first captain to lead India in the WTC Final on Saturday, he also eclipsed MS Dhoni to become the most capped Indian Test captain. The ongoing battle against New Zealand is Kohli's 61st Test match as the Indian skipper.
2. Virat Kohli becomes the 4th fastest Indian to 7,500 Test runs
Virat Kohli had 7,490 Test runs to his name heading into the WTC Final. He ended Day 2 of the match against India on 44 runs off 124 deliveries.
Kohli breached the 7,500 runs landmark in the 38th over of the Indian innings. The right-handed batsman played an extra cover drive off Colin de Grandhomme's delivery and took three runs to take his overall aggregate to 7,501 runs. He has now become the fourth-fastest Indian to cross this milestone.
3. Virat Kohli became the 2nd Indian to score 6,000 Test runs at number four position
Fans often compare Virat Kohli to former Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar. On the second day of the WTC Final, Kohli joined Tendulkar in an elite group of Indian batsmen.
Kohli became the second Indian batsman to score 6,000 Test runs at the number four position. He had 5,976 runs at number four before the WTC Final. The 32-year-old touched the landmark with a single off Kyle Jamieson's delivery in the 48th over.
4. Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill joined Tendulkar and Ganguly in the record books with their 62-run partnership in WTC Final
As mentioned ahead, Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill added 62 runs for the first wicket in the WTC Final between India and New Zealand.
Courtesy of the partnership, they have joined Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly on the list of Indians to have had a 50-run opening stand in the ICC tournament finals. Ganguly and Tendulkar had a 141-run partnership versus the Blackcaps in the ICC Knockout Trophy 2000 Final.
5. Virat Kohli became the first Indian to score 200 runs in ICC tournament finals
Speaking of ICC tournament finals, Virat Kohli became the first Indian to amass 200 runs in the summit clashes of ICC tourneys. Kohli had scored 160 runs in four ICC finals before the WTC Final.
Gautam Gambhir was at the top of the leaderboard with 172 runs, but now Kohli has overtaken him. At the end of Day 2 of the WTC Final, Kohli has 204 runs to his name in the ICC tournament finals.