On Friday, the Indian skipper Virat Kohli amassed his 24th Test century on the 2nd day of the first Test against West Indies. The captain played the role of a sheet anchor as he reached the landmark in 184 deliveries and dried out the energies of the Windies bowlers. In his innings, the right-handed batsman smashed 6 boundaries. During the course of the innings, the 29-year-old also completed 3,000 Test runs in India and 100o Test runs for the 3rd successive year.
This is Kohli’s 4th hundred in the longest format this year in Tests. He has also scored over 1,000 runs in this calendar year so far. His previous hundred in the format came in the second innings of the third Test against England, where he missed out on a century in the first innings.
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Kohli became the fastest to reach 24 Test century since Australia’s Sir Don Bradman, who reached the mark in 66 innings. It has taken him 123 innings to reach the mark, while the master blaster Sachin Tendulkar had taken 125 innings to score 24 Test centuries, while Sunil Gavaskar reached the landmarks in 128 innings.
Virat Kohli’s authoritative 24th Test 💯
Another day, another 100. Watch how the India captain carefully builds his innings and becomes the second fastest player in the world to get to 24 Test tons.
▶️https://t.co/sALonRkJyN @Paytm #INDvWI pic.twitter.com/3xprmKFrDX
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 5, 2018
In 2016, the Indian skipper amassed 1215 runs in 12 Tests at an average of around 55 while in 2017, he amassed 1059 runs in 10 Tests ast an average of 75.64. Despite the fact that India has played most of the Test in 2018 outside India, Virat has amassed 1018 runs* in 9 Test matches (including the Rajkot Test) at a phenomenal average of almost 59.
In terms of scoring 1000 runs in a calendar year, Kohli became the first Indian to do so in 3 successive years. However, Matthew Hayden did it for 5 years (2001-2005), Steve Smith did it for 4 years (2014-2017), Kevin Pietersen (2006-2008), Brian Lara (2003-2005), Marcus Trescothick (2003-2005), and Kohli (2016-2018) did it for 3 years.
All Hail the King 👑 @imVkohli
24th Test ton ✅
17th as captain 😎
4th century this year 🙌
2nd fastest to 24 Test ton 👌
(More coming, we aren’t done yet) #TeamIndia #INDvWI pic.twitter.com/IgCw1K5JEk— BCCI (@BCCI) October 5, 2018
59 th international hundred for the century machine, Kohli . Is a walk in the park for him, literally
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) October 5, 2018
Kohli century. Inevitable. Scoreboard inevitable too.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) October 5, 2018
This Virat 100 was all about keeping himself motivated to get one. Considering his ability and the quality of challenge. Well done on that front Virat! #INDvsWI
— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) October 5, 2018
Virat’s century came a day after the Caribbean bowlers were made to work hard on the first day of the Test by the debutant Prithvi Shaw, who scored his maiden Test century. India managed to cross the 500-mark on Day 2 with Rishabh Pant also smashing quick 92 runs before being dismissed by Devendra Bishoo.
However, Virat was also dismissed on his individual score of 139 by the Windies debutant Sherman Lewis.
