India batsman Virat Kohli overhauls Don Bradman's Test runs tally with double ton against South Africa

India captain Virat Kohli struck a double century and surpassed batting great Don Bradman's Test tally of 6,996 runs in the second Test against South Africa on Friday. Kohli completed his seventh 200 in his 81st Test. He swept Senuran Muthusamy for two runs to reach the landmark and raised his bat with a smile to an ovation from the crowd in Pune. He finished the innings unbeaten on 254 off 336 balls, including 33 fours and two sixes, with India eventually declaring on a mammoth 601-5. Kohli, who recorded his seventh double hundred soon after tea, put on 225 runs with Ravindra Jadeja to pulverise the South African bowling. Muthuswamy had Kohli caught at slip on 208 with his left-arm spin but TV replays showed the bowler had overstepped the line and the delivery was a no-ball. Kohli and Jadeja soon launched an attack against the opposition bowlers with a string of fours and sixes from the right-left batting pair. King Kohli, as he is fondly called by the Indian media, smashed Muthusamy for a boundary to go past his previous-best Test score of 243. Jadeja was out attempting a big heave off spinner Senuran Muthusamy and was caught at long off for 91 as Kohli walked off with his partner to have a go at the opposition batting in the final session. And India quickly made inroads into a demoralised Proteas side with fast bowler Umesh Yadav picking off openers Aiden Markram and Dean Elgar, for a duck and six respectively. Mohammed Shami then accounted for Temba Bavuma, given out caught behind for eight after a Kohli review. Theunis de Bruyn (20) and Anrich Nortje (one) then saw South Africa through to stumps finishing on 35-3, trailing by a mighty 565 runs. And there was no doubt who the star of the day was. Kohli has now scored more than 7,000 Test runs at an average of over 53 since making his debut in the West Indies in 2011. The benchmark puts him in the top 50 Test run-getters, a field led by Indian icon Sachin Tendulkar with 15,921 runs in 200 matches. Tendulkar retired in 2013 with 100 international centuries across formats. Kohli has the most double hundreds among Indian batsmen, while Bradman leads the international list with 12 to his name. Playing his 50th Test as captain, Kohli has overtaken many big names in Test cricket. Sri Lanka's Sanath Jayasuriya and Australian Steve Smith (6973 each), and former England batsman Len Hutton (6971) are now behind Kohli in Test runs. While Kohli needed 138 innings to get this far, Bradman got the runs in 80 innings at an average of 99.94. The 30-year-old also registered his ninth 150 plus score, once again going past Bradman's eight. Kohli has also notched 11,520 runs including 43 centuries in 239 one-day internationals.

India batsman Virat Kohli overhauls Don Bradman's Test runs tally with double ton against South Africa

Home captain surpasses Australian hero with career best 254 not out, as side post huge total in second Test