Virat Kohli treated fans at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad to another century, ending his drought for a Test ton on Sunday in the ongoing fourth Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy against Australia.
Following up on Shubman Gill, who continued his red-hot streak to score a century in the first innings, it was Virat Kohli’s turn to up the ante as India look for a positive outcome to make their way into the World Test Championship finals alongside their already qualified opponents.
Resuming play on the fourth day, Kohli went on to score 41 runs in a gritty knock which included only five boundaries to complete his first Test ton in over three years. His last century in the longest format of the game had come against Bangladesh in the pink ball Test at Eden Gardens in November 2019.
India lost Ravindra Jadeja early in the first session on Sunday, but Kohli on the other hand went on to stitch together an 84-run partnership alongside KS Bharat to bring India close to Australia’s total of 480.
Kohli had scored his fifty on the third day and ended the day’s play with 59 off 128 deliveries. His century came off 241 balls as he held strong on the other end.
With this ton, Virat Kohli now has 75 international centuries to his name which includes 28 in Tests, 46 in ODIs and a solitary ton in T20s.
It may be noted that Kohli ended his long drought for an international century last year against Afghanistan in the Asia Cup. He then went on to add three more centuries in the ODI format over the last three months. However, his drought for a Test century had continued.
Meanwhile, the Indian batters have looked in control of the innings with five straight 50 plus run stands for the wickets that have fallen. Notably, India have managed to do so for the first time against Australia as the final Test looks to head towards a draw.
Brief Scores: India at 444/5. Virat Kohli: 125 off 270, Axar Patel 24 off 41.
