Ahmedabad, Mar 11 (IANS): Virat Kohli struck a fluent half-century on the third day of the fourth Test against Australia, his first fifty in almost 14 months and in the process became the fifth Indian batter to score 4000 runs at home.

Former India captain Kohli overcame a nervous start before tea to get his first fifty in the longest format of the game since the Cape Town Test in January 2022. His 59 not out along with Shubman Gill (128) and Cheteshwar Pujara's 42 helped India reach 289/3 in 99 overs and put the hosts in a strong position on Saturday.

By scoring his first fifty in more than a year, Kohli joined an elite list that includes Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag to score 4000 or more runs at home.

Kohli reached the mark of 4000 runs in his 50th Test at home.

Tendulkar leads the list with 7216 runs in 94 Tests, with Rahul Dravid (5598 in 70), Sunil Gavaskar (5067 in 65) and Sehwag (4656 in 52 Tests) following in that order in the list of players to score the most runs at home.

At stumps on Day 3, Kohli was batting on 59 not out with Ravindra Jadeja 16 not out. This was the first time he scored past 40 runs in the ongoing series against Australia.