August 12 (IndiaToday) – Virat Kohli ended a five-month-long drought for an ODI century when he got to the 3-figure mark against West Indies in the 2nd of the ongoing 3-match series in Port of Spain on Sunday. Kohli got to his 42nd ODI hundred as he completely dominated the West Indies bowling attack at the Queen’s Park Oval.
The hundred on Sunday was also Virat Kohli’s 8th ODI hundred against West Indies, one of his favorite oppositions in ODI cricket. The India captain has now scored more than 2000 runs against the Caribbeans as he broke Javed Miandad’s 26-year-old record during the course of this knock.
Virat Kohli needed just 111 balls to get to his 77th hundred in international cricket. This was also the India captain’s first hundred since March 2019 and his 4th of the year. Kohli scored 445 runs at an average of over 50 in India’s 2019 World Cup campaign but he had not scored a hundred.
Virat Kohli was dismissed for 120 while trying to accelerate in the last 10 overs. The India captain raised his bat to acknowledge the applause he was receiving from the Queen’s Park Oval crowd.
During the course of the well-paced innings, Kohli also became India’s 2nd highest run-scorer in ODI cricket. The skipper went past Sourav Ganguly’s mark of 11363 runs in ODI cricket. While Ganguly had needed 311 match, Kohli went past the mark in only his 238th match.
Virat Kohli breaks Rohit Sharma’s record
Kohli also has broken Rohit Sharma’s record for the fastest to 2000 ODI runs against an opposition. Rohit held the record by getting to 2000 in his 37th ODI innings vs Australia. Kohli got past 2000-run mark against West Indies in what was his 33rd ODI innings.
Kohli’s 42nd ODI hundred oozes class
Kohli’s knock that oozed class right from the word go in the 2nd ODI vs West Indies had 10 boundaries. Kohli showcased his intentions early in his innings when he played a crisply-timed cover drive in Kemar Roach’s first over. Notably, India had lost Shikhar Dhawan as early as in the 2nd over as the responsibility of doing the repair job fell on Kohli.
Kohli kept the scorers busy even as Rohit Sharma was struggling to get going and helped India regain control of the innings. The India captain kept losing partners but that never affected his rhythm in the middle. Even as he approached the 3-figure mark, Kohli played with a lot of freedom as he hit his first six when he was in the eighties.
