Tag: Virat Kohli century

DUBAI: Veteran India batter Virat Kohli made a big leap on the latest ICC Test batting rankings after his drought-ending hundred in the final Test against Australia. 

Kohli, who took more than three years to mark his 28th Test century, scored a superb 186 in the drawn final game of the Border-Gavaskar series.

His epic knock in Ahmedabad helped India triumph the series by 2-1 and win their fourth series in a row against Australia.

“Virat Kohli was the big mover on the Test batter charts following his drought-breaking century during the fourth Test of the series in Ahmedabad, with the former India skipper jumping seven places to 13th overall,” said International Cricket Council in a media release on Wednesday.

Besides Kohli, his teammate Ravichandran Ashwin also earned decisive points on the bowlers’ chart to become the solo No.1-ranked Test bowler.

The 36-year-old was named Player of the Series for his 25 wickets at an average of 17.28 and went ahead of England’s James Anderson, who jointly held the No.1 spot with the Indian spinner last week.

England veteran now holds second place on the Test bowlers rankings, 10 rating points behind Ashwins’ 869.

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AHMEDABAD: Virat Kohli hit his first Test century in more than three years with a towering 186 as India batted themselves out of danger of a series-levelling defeat to Australia in the fourth Test on Sunday.

The hosts finished their first innings on 571 to overhaul Australia’s 480 and get a first-innings lead of 91 on another run-filled day four at the world’s biggest cricket stadium in Ahmedabad.

Kohli was the last man out after he fell to Todd Murphy in the final session of play as India lost their ninth wicket and Shreyas Iyer did not bat due to back pain.

Australia reached three for no loss at stumps with Travis Head getting the runs while alongside nightwatchman Matthew Kuhnemann.

The left-handed Kuhnemann made a surprise entry to the crease after opener Usman Khawaja, who hit 180 in Australia’s innings, did not come out to bat after getting hurt on the field.

Kohli ruled the day with his 28th Test ton after he got a single off spinner Nathan Lyon in the second session to bring the house down as fans went wild with celebration.

Kohli, who now has 75 international tons across three international formats, kissed his locket before looking up to the sky.

Resuming on 59 after reaching his first Test half-century on Saturday since January 2022, the landmark came after a patient innings of 241 balls.

Kohli then hit a flurry of fours after reaching his hundred and along with an attacking Axar Patel, who made 79, put on a marathon stand of 162 for the sixth wicket.

Khawaja attempted to catch an Axar six at the boundary but could not stay inside the rope, hurting his foot in the process and limping off the field.

Kohli got past 150 after tea and Axar raised his third half-century of the series to wear down the opposition bowlers on a pitch vastly different from the rank turners in the previous three matches.

Spinners Lyon and Murphy bowled 110.5 overs between to get three wickets each on another day of hard grind for the bowlers.

Axar went into fifth gear after his fifty as he slogged and smashed Kuhnemann for two sixes in an over before being bowled off an inside edge by Mitchell Starc.

Kohli lost his overnight partner Ravindra Jadeja for 28 in the morning session and Srikar Bharat fell in the afternoon after the wicketkeeper-batsman hit 44 in an 84-run partnership with the former captain.

Iyer didn’t come out to bat after he went for scans following complaints of lower back pain after the end of day three.

Opener Shubman Gill led India’s strong reply on Saturday with his 128 before he fell to Lyon, who returned with figures of 3-151 from 65 overs.

India need a win to clinch the series and be sure of a berth in the World Test Championship final in June.

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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Virat Kohli smashed an unbeaten 166 to help India beat Sri Lanka by 317 runs and record the highest-ever victory margin in a one-day international as they swept the series 3-0 on Sunday.

Kohli’s third century in his last four matches and a 116 by opener Shubman Gill powered India to 390-5 in Thiruvananthapuram.

Fast bowler Mohammed Siraj then returned impressive figures of 4-32 as India bowled out the tourists for 72 in 22 overs as India went past New Zealand’s 290-run thrashing of Ireland in 2008.

A 131-run second-wicket stand between Gill and Kohli stood out after India elected to bat first.

Gill put on 95 runs for the opening wicket with skipper Rohit Sharma, who made 42, to set the tone for the team’s batting domination.

Rohit missed out on a fifty after he fell to Chamika Karunaratne but Gill kept up the attack with Kohli and raised his second ODI hundred, celebrating it with a fist bump.

Gill smashed Jeffrey Vandersay for four fours in the over after the ton, but was soon bowled off a slower delivery from Kasun Rajitha.

“King Kohli” put on another century partnership with Shreyas Iyer, who hit 38, and went on to record the ton with his arms and bat raised to an applauding crowd.

The ball before Kohli got his hundred saw a nasty collision at the square-leg boundary between Vandersay and Ashen Bandara, with both fielders stretchered off.

Dunith Wellalage came in as a concussion substitute for Vandersay and batted for the tourists at number eight.

Kohli changed gears after his 46th ODI century — three behind Sachin Tendulkar’s all-time record of 49 — as he smashed Karunaratne for two successive sixes.

Kohli, who surpassed Sri Lankan great Mahela Jayawardene’s 12,650 ODI runs to enter the top five all-time run getters, reached his 150 in 106 balls and finished off with 13 fours and eight sixes.

Sri Lanka were never in the chase after Mohammed Siraj struck thrice in his first five overs including the wickets of Avishka Fernando, for one, and Kusal Mendis, bowled on four.

The tourists kept losing wickets to Siraj’s pace and swing and the quick also ran out Karunaratne with a direct throw that caught the batsman off guard and out of his crease at the striker’s end.

Mohammed Shami and Kuldeep Yadav picked two wickets each to flatten Sri Lanka’s batting with 28 overs to spare, with the tourists losing nine wickets and injured Bandara not batting.

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GUWAHATI: India’s star batter Virat Kohli amassed his 45th ODI and 73rd international century to power his side to a dominating 67-run victory over Sri Lanka in the first ODI of the three-match series here on Tuesday.

The right-handed batter survived two dropped catches on 52 and 81 before going on to hit a record-equalling ODI century and played a pivotal role in the team’s triumph.

Batting first after being invited by the Sri Lankan captain, the Indian batting line-up displayed a combined effort to post a massive 373/7 in their allotted 50 overs.

Skipper Rohit Sharma and his opening partner Shubman Gill laid a solid foundation as they put on a 143-run opening partnership with both scoring half-centuries.

Rohit, who missed India’s 2-1 T20I series triumph, scripted a strong start to the ODI series as he scored a quickfire 83 off just 67 deliveries with the help of nine boundaries and three sixes, while Gill fell after scoring a 60-ball 70.

Following the openers’ departure, Kohli Kohli stood firm and despite losing partners at the other end, carried on charging the Sri Lankan bowlers.

The right-handed batter top-scored for India with a record-setting 113 off a mere 87 deliveries that witnessed the ball crossing the fence 13 times including a maximum.

Besides the trio, wicketkeeper-batter KL Rahul remained the notable run-getter with his vital 39-run knock and stitched a 90-run partnership with Kohli for the fourth wicket.

Kasun Rajitha made three scalps for Sri Lanka but leaked aplenty while Chamika Karunaratne, Dasun Shanaka and Dhananjaya de Silva struck out a batter apiece.

Set to chase a mammoth 378, Sri Lanka could manage to amass 306/8 despite a fighting century from their skipper Shanaka, who remained unbeaten on 108 off just 88 deliveries including 12 boundaries and three sixes.

The touring side had a dismal start to the run chase as they lost two quick wickets including Kusal Mendis bagging a golden duck.

Nissanka (23) made an effort to revive the pursuit with his valiant batting and a 72-run fourth-wicket partnership with Dhananjaya de Silva, who scored 47.

Sri Lanka slumped to 206-8 in the 38th over, but Shanaka kept the game alive with an unbroken 100-run stand with Rajitha; also bringing up his century in style with a four and a six on the last two deliveries.

Umran Malik led the bowling attack for India with 3/58, while Mohammed Siraj bagged two wickets.

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CENTURION: India’s Test skipper – Virat Kohli, went century-less for the first time in two consecutive years, since his international debut.

In his last inning of the ongoing year, today, Kohli dismissed for just 18 in the second inning of the first Test against South Africa; ending the year with the century-drought. In 2021, the batter scored 536 runs at 28.21; scoring just four fifties.

Since the start of the previous year, India’s premium batter, Kohli, has struggled to score big with the bat.

Kohli has been unable to reach the three-figure mark since his last international century, his 70th, in November 2019 against Bangladesh.

The batter was unable to score an international century in any format in the years 2020 and 2021.

The 33-years-old saw his peak in the 2017-18 period; scoring 11 centuries in each year. In 2019, he scored seven centuries.

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