Virat Kohli in 2020: For first time in 12 years, India skipper ends year without century

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Bengaluru, December 20: For the first time in 12 years, India skipper Virat Kohli ended a without an international century.

Although he ended 2019 with a century against Bangladesh, Kohli has managed scores of 2, 19, 3, 14, 74 and 4 in his last six innings of 3 Test matches in 2020 against New Zealand and Australia respectively.

India will play another match this year, the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne from December 26, but Kohli won't be part of the team as he is set to return to India for the birth of his first child.

Kohli will return from Australia with four scores of fifty in seven international matches and eight innings on the tour of Australia. The last time he went a calendar year without a century was during his debut year, 2008, when he was picked to the national side after leading India under-19 team to a World Cup title.

He had, however, played just five games in that year. In 2020, he played 22 international games which is quite low compared to the recent years thanks to the COVID-19 outbreak that resulted in a break in international cricket for India for almost nine months. This is also the first time since 2009 that the Indian skipper has played as few as 22 matches.

Altogether, Kohli has hit seven fifties this year in contrast to his seven tons and 14 fifties in 2019, 11 tons and nine fifties in 2018 and 11 tons and 10 fifties in 2017.

Kohli was close to getting his first century this year three times during the ongoing tour of Australia but fell short. He made 89 in the second One-day International, and an 85 in the third and final T20 International. He then followed those up with a classy 74 in the first innings of the day-night Test. Apart from these, he also got a 63 in the second ODI.

Earlier in the year, he scored two ODI fifties - 89 and 78 - when Australia visited India in January. In the New Zealand tour, he scored a solitary fifty in February. Five of his fifties this year have come in ODIs while he has a fifty each in T20 Internationals and Tests.

The Indian skipper, who also leads Royal Challengers Bangalore in Indian Premier League, failed to get to the century in 15 matches during IPL 2020, where his top score was 90 not out.