Indian cricket star Virat Kohli has broken his Test century drought and hit his first century since November 2019, scoring his 28th Test hundred off 241 balls in the fourth Test against Australia on Sunday. Kohli resumed on his overnight score of 59 and got his first Test half-century since January 2022. He acknowledged the crowd and the dressing room after kissing the locket on his gold chain, and a placard in the crowd read, “Here to see King Kohli ruling in his kingdom”.
Kohli’s lean phase last year saw him failing to reach three figures in more than 1,000 days, but he hit his first ton after 1,020 days in the Asia Cup T20 tournament in September last year and hasn’t looked back since. He finished the T20 World Cup in Australia as the leading run-scorer and then hit three ODI centuries, including two against Sri Lanka in January. The former captain has a Test average of more than 48 in 108 matches since making his debut in 2011 and has struck 75 centuries across the three international formats.
Despite his success, Kohli remains behind Australia stand-in-skipper Steve Smith and England’s Joe Root in the number of Test centuries between the “fabulous four”. Smith overtook Kohli during the Indian batsman’s lean phase and now has 30 Test centuries since his previous 95th Test. Root has 29, while New Zealand batsman Kane Williamson has 26 Test tons. Kohli’s previous Test century was against Bangladesh in what was the first day-night Test in India.
