Former New Zealand captain Kane Williamson surpassed Virat Kohli’s Test run total in an exciting innings against Sri Lanka in Galle on Saturday, leaving the former India skipper at the bottom of the Fab Four in the all-time rankings.

Kane Williamson Surpasses Virat Kohli’s Test Record

The feat comes at a time when Kohli is struggling for form back home-scoring just 6 and 17 in the recent Test against Bangladesh. All this has been happening despite an impressive run by India in the World Test Championship, where they won five consecutive matches and are favourites for the third time running to reach the final. The pressure mounted against Kohli and also more so as some of the rivals do extremely well. Amongst the active players, Joe Root leads with 12,402 runs, and he is closing in on the English record of Alastair Cook.

Williamson was back to some form on Saturday with a brisk 46 in Galle, but this time against Kohli, who went past 8,871 runs. Williamson, who has scored 8,881 runs in 13 fewer Tests than Kohli, who played the first Test nearly a year after him, has more centuries than Kohli as he crossed him earlier this year. That has relegated Kohli to the last spot among the Fab Four, second is Australia’s Steve Smith, at 9,685 runs.

Kane Williamson & Virat Kohli In Tests

Kane Williamson made his Test debut in 2010 in Ahmedabad against India, he even scored a century in his very first outing. While Virat Kohli made his Test debut in 2011 against West Indies and in 2012 he scored his first Test hundred against Australia in Adelaide.

Both Williamson and Kohli have captained their respective teams but stepped down from captaincy in 2022.

Most Test Runs By Fab Four

Joe Root- 12,402 runs in 267 innings

Steve Smith- 9685 runs in 195 innings

Kane Williamson- 8881 runs in 180 innings

Virat Kohli- 8871 runs in 193 innings