1st Time In 8 Years! Virat Kohli Comes Out To Bat At No. 3 In Tests - Check His Record

Star Indian batter Virat Kohli came out to bat at No. 3 for India in the first innings of the ongoing first Test against New Zealand, which is currently underway at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Kohli, who usually bats at No. 4 in the five-day format of the game, was promoted to bat at No. 3 in the absence of Shubman Gill on Thursday (October 17).

Gill is not playing in the series opener against New Zealand due to fitness-related issues.

Kohli arrived at the crease to bat at No. 3 after Rohit Sharma was dismissed for two runs from 16 balls by Tim Southee on the third ball of the seventh over. Kohli, who has 8947 runs to his name in 116 Tests played so far, last played at No. 3 for India in 2016. In his first inning as No. 3 batter in eight years, Kohli failed to impress and was dismissed for a nine-ball duck by William O’Rourke. Glenn Phillips produced a super effort on the field to complete his catch.

Kohli, who is India’s fourth-leading run scorer in Test cricket, only has 97 runs to his name in seven innings as No. 3 batter in Tests.

In his first innings as No. 3 batter for India in Tests, Kohli remained unbeaten on 14 runs from 21 balls against England in Ahmedabad (November 15-19, 2012).

He next played as a No. 3 batter against Australia in the second innings of the Mohali Test in March 2013 and scored 34 runs from 61 balls with the help of six boundaries.

He got out for 1 and 41 runs in the next two innings as India’s No. 3 Test batter against Australia at Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi (March 22-24, 2013).

In his last Test as No. 3 for India before the ongoing one against New Zealand in Bengaluru, Kohli scored 3 and 4 runs against the West Indies in Gros Islet (August 9-13, 2016).

Virat Kohli’s record as No. 3 batter in Tests

His batting average as a No. 3 batter for India in Tests is only 16.16, and on four occasions he has failed to score runs in double digits.

On the other hand, as a No. 4 batter, Kohli has amassed a total of 7355 runs in 148 innings of 91 Tests.

He has also batted at No. 5, 6, and 7 positions in Tests and has 1080, 404, and 11 runs to his name, respectively.