Two years before, legendary India batsman and one of the world’s finest ever modern batters, Virat Kohli, ended his long drought of 1020 days for an international century, on this day.
The veteran batter last scored a century in November 2019 against the Bangladesh side in a red-ball match. Since then, though runs kept coming for the batter, what concerned him and his fans was his lack of an international century.
The concern kept rising as it was 1020 days and 83 innings across different formats, and the batter could not score a hundred. This might have been usual for many, but not for the man who had already scored 70 international centuries at the age of 30.
The drought came to an end with an iconic innings against Afghanistan on September 8th, 2022 as he scored his 71st hundred in the Asia Cup Super 4 match. The captivating innings comprised 12 fours and 6 sixes as he scored 122 runs striking at 200.
This was Kohli’s first T20I century and his 71st across all formats. However, India’s run-machine has been unstoppable since then, as he has scored nine centuries since the game in 2022. Not many came in the longest format with only two tons in the last 5 years. However, Kohli is back with a bang in the ODI format, as since then, he has scored 7 ODI centuries. In the last World Cup, he also broke the record for the Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar for most centuries in ODIs-49.
Kohli achieved his 50th ODI century when he scored it against the Black Caps in the semis of the World Cup.
What’s next for Virat Kohli?
Virat Kohli, often known as King Kohli, batted stunningly throughout 2023 as he gave India several vital knocks in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
The year 2024 didn’t seem likely for Kohli, as he failed to start well and had a mixed season at the IPL with his team facing an exit from the eliminator. Kohli earned glory alongside team India in their T20 World Cup triumph.
Virat Kohli will next be seen in the home Test series against Bangladesh, though there was some criticism over why he would be relieved over participation in the Duleep Trophy.
He will have in sight the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to be played, later, this year and then the Champions Trophy, prior to which they will have to set the tone for their lack of efficiency in playing spin bowling, one that they faced in the Lankan tour.
