Virat Kohli ends 1205 days wait for Test hundred with uncharacteristic knock vs Australia in Ahmedabad

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The 1205 days (3 years, 3months and 17 days) wait for a Virat Kohli Test hundred came to an end after the former India captain in an uncharacteristic innings hit just five boundaries en route to his 28th ton in the longest format of the game.

The star batter slammed his 27th hundred on November 23, 2019 against Bangladesh in Kolkata before taking 41 innings to score his 28th on March 12, 2023. The right-hander batter hadn't taken more than 11 innings between his two Test hundreds in the past. His previous highest gap of eleven innings was between his 11th and 12th Test hundred.

Virat Kohli ultra-clam and composed en route 75th international hundred

In one of a kind innings from the batting maestro, he did not hit a single boundary in the first session of Day 4 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad (his first boundary on Day 4 came after facing 162 balls). After a shaky start Kohli looked like a man on a mission, not even giving an inch to the Australian bowlers. It felt as if he had decided that he won't get out before ending his wait for 28th Test ton.

The 34-year-old got in the groove with a couple of cracking boundaries off Mitchell Starc. After he hit a scintillating straight drive against the left-arm pacer, leaving millions around the world mesmerised, it looked certain that Kohli would make the most of the perfect batting condition in the fourth Test to end the three-year long wait. He worked his way out with a monk-like concentration to score his second slowest Test hundred off 241 balls, and create a flurry of records.

With his eighth Test century against Australia, he is now tied with the legendary Sunil Gavaskar on the elite list of most Test hundreds by an Indian player against the Kangaroo nation. Sachin Tendulkar leads the list with 11 tons. The Delhi batter is also third on the list of most international hundreds versus an opposition. Tendulkar scored 20 hundreds across formats against Australia and Don Bradman slammed 19 hundreds against England. Having scored 17 hundreds against Sri Lanka. Tendulkar occupies the third spot too. Kohli joins the elite list with 16 international hundreds each against Australia and Sri Lanka. Kohli also emulated Gavaskar by scoring a hundred in his 50th Test match in India. Playing his 50th Test at home in 1983, batting great Gavaskar scored a hundred while batting at number 4.

Kohli, who has 75 international hundreds to his name now, has stitched four fifty-plus partnerships so far in his ongoing innings. He partnered for 58 runs with another India centurion from the match Shubman Gill. Later, he partnered for 64 and 84 runs with Ravindra Jadeja and Srikar Bharat respectively. His ongoing partnership with Ravindra Jadeja has also accounted for more than fifty runs. The masterful and gritty Kohli knock has put India on the cusp of taking the first innings lead over Australia with five wickets still in hand.