India vs West Indies 1st Test: Rohit Sharma-led India cricket team kickstarted their ICC Men's World Test Championship 2023-25 cycle with a high-octane India vs West Indies two-match Test series, from July 12 onwards. India, two-time WTC Finalists, entered IND-WI Tests as the favorites. The Men in Blue dominate Windies when it comes to head-to-head record as West Indies have lost eight successive Test series against India. The Day 1 of India vs West Indies 1st Test match on July 12 (Wednesday) saw hosts getting all out for a lowly 150 in 64.3 overs with veteran off-spinner R Ashwin taking his career's 33rd fifer (5 for 60 in 24.3 overs) to put team India in the driver's seat. At Stumps on the opening day's play, Rohit (30 batting, 65 balls) and debutant Yashasvi Jaiswal (40 batting, 73 balls) added 80 runs for first wicket to bring down first innings deficit to 70 going into day 2.
India's tour of West Indies, especially the two-match Test series, holds high importance for Virat Kohli, who isn’t in the best touch in red-ball cricket for some time now. Also, the former India captain has an opportunity to break two massive records.
With 8,479 runs under his belt, Virat Kohli is just 21 runs short of the 8500-run mark in Test cricket. The batting icon will become just the sixth Indian to achieve the massive milestone.
If Virat Kohli manages to score at least 25 runs in the ongoing IND vs WI Test series, he will not just cross the 8500-run mark in Tests but will also enter the elite list of top 5 run-scorers for India in Test cricket. Kohli is currently at the 6th position with 8479 runs. Ex-India opener Virender Sehwag is at the 5th position with 8503 Test runs. Kohli is just 25 runs away to surpass Sehwag and become fifth-highest scorer for India in Tests.
If Virat Kohli manages to score 62 or more runs in IND vs WI Test series, he will get past West Indies great Viv Richards (8540 Test runs) in the list of batters with most runs in history Test cricket. Kohli will move to 26th position in the elite list as soon as he scores 62 runs. Sachin Tendulkar is at the top with 15,921 runs in this list.