India vs Australia: Virat Kohli beats Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting in elite record

India batsman Virat Kohli has beaten the legendary duo of Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting in an elite cricket record.

Kohli on Sunday became the fastest cricketer to complete 25,000 international runs. He achieved the milestone during the second Test between India and Australia at Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.

Australia handed a 115-run target to India on Day 3 in the second Test of the ongoing four-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023. Kohli scored 20 runs off 31 deliveries before falling to Australia spinner Todd Murphy. In the process, the former Indian captain completed 25,000 runs across formats for India and he did so in 549 innings, 28 fewer than his idol Tendulkar. In terms of a number of matches, Kohli clinched the landmark in 492 career matches, 172 fewer than Tendulkar.

The list of fastest cricketers to score 25,000 international runs (in terms of innings), following Kohli and Tendulkar, are Australia's Ricky Ponting (588), South Africa's Jacques Kallis (594), Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara (608) and Sri Lanka's Mahela Jayawardene (701).

Meanwhile, Kohli also became the first player to cross the 25,000-mark in international cricket who made his debut in 21st century.

In India's second innings in Delhi, Kohli arrived at the innings in the seventh over after opening batters KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma departed early. Continuing his nightmare form, Rahul managed just one run off three balls, while the Indian skipper scored a quick-fire 31 off 20 balls.

Kohli hit three amazing shots, hinting at having intentions of wrapping up India's chase in front of his nearly-full home ground. However, Murphy, playing his second Test for Australia, dismissed Kohli for the second time in the ongoing series. India's No. 4 batsman missed out on a half-century in the first innings in Delhi as Australia's debutant Matthew Kuhnemann dismissed Kohli for 44 runs. Across two Tests this series, Kohli has scored 76 runs in three innings.

Cheteshwar Pujara, playing his 100th Test, struck the winning runs for India on Sunday as they defeated Australia by six wickets to go 2-0 up in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Pujara and wicketkeeper-batsman KS Bharat remained unbeaten on 31 and 23, respectively during India's chase of 115.

Earlier in the day, bowling all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja picked up seven wickets as India bowled out Australia for a mere 113 runs. Overall in the match, Jadeja, who recently returned to action after a five-month break due to injury, finished with 10 wickets.

After two Tests in the ongoing series, Indian captain Rohit is the leading scorer with 183 runs, ahead of India's bowling all-rounders Axar Patel (158 runs) and Australia's Marnus Labuschagne (119 runs).

Among wicket-takers, Jadeja is at the top of the table with 17 wickets, followed by Ravichandran Ashwin (14 wickets) and Murphy (10 wickets) next in the list.