India vs England: Virat Kohli slams maiden fifty on English soil; records follow

Virat Kohli also became the 13th Indian player to score 1000 runs against England during his gritty knock on Day 2 of the Edgbaston Test.

Indian captain Virat Kohli scored his maiden half century on England soil in the first Test match at Edgbaston. Kohli was the lone anchor for India as the England bowlers worked over rest of the lineup with consistent swing and seam movement. India too played a part in the misery with a bunch of irresponsible strokes. (IND v ENG DAY 2 LIVE)

Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli follows the ball after playing a shot during the second day of the first test cricket match between England and India at Edgbaston in Birmingham, England, Thursday, Aug. 2, 2018. (AP)

Kohli walked out to bat against a rampant Sam Curran who picked up two wickets in one over. He started breezily and played his trademark cover drives to get going. However, shortly after the tea break Ben Stokes bowled possibly the spell of the match and got rid of Ajinkya Rahane and Dinesh Karthik in quick succession and pushed India to a corner.

This forced Kohli to absorb the pressure, put away his panache and arrest the momentum. He played the waiting game, left a lot of deliveries, played with soft hands to ensure the edges did not carry to slips and was even dropped by the slip cordon.

He kept the scoreboard ticking and reached his fifty with steer to the vacant third man region to register his fifty.

He joined Vijay Hazare (89 in 1952), Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi jr (64 in 1967), Ajit Wadekar (85 in 1971) and Mohammedd Azharuddin (121 in 1990) as the 5th Indian to register a 50-plus in his maiden innings as captain in England.

Also, he became the 13th Indian to breach the 1000-run mark in Test cricket.

India would desperately want him to kick on and emulate Azhar.