Batting maestro Virat Kohli became the fourth Indian to cross 9000 runs in Test cricket, scaling another peak in a glorious career during the third day of the opening match against New Zealand here on Friday.

Kohli joined an august company featuring Sachin Tendulkar (15921), Rahul Dravid (13265) and Sunil Gavaskar (10122).

However, he is the slowest among them to reach this landmark, having taken 197 innings.

The 35-year-old Kohli reached the mark after crossing his half-century in India’s second-innings.

Batting at No. 3, Kohli fell for a nine-ball duck in the first innings as India were all out for 46.

In the recent Test series against Bangladesh, Kohli became the quickest batter to complete 27,000 international runs in only 594 innings.