It’s over two years since Virat Kohli’s last international century. How have his numbers been since?

Virat Kohli’s 71st century.

Like the unnamed narrator in the Fight Club (I am Jack’s complete lack of surprise etc, so on), the impending 71st international century of the Indian batting superstar has taken a life of its own. On November 23, 2019 when Bangladesh were at the receiving end of a century in the pink-ball Test against India at Eden Gardens, it would have taken a brave human to predict Kohli would not add to his list since.

And here we are, two complete years in international cricket later, Kohli is still on 70 centuries.

“HAIL KING KOHLI! Records keep coming for the Run Machine no matter what the format is. The 1st Indian to hit hundred in pink ball Test,” reads the description of the bcci.tv video for Kohli’s century in Kolkata that day.

He has constantly maintained that centuries are secondary for him and he will take an India win over a personal milestone every time he steps out. But for his legion of fans, the wait has gone on excruciatingly long. At one point, the idea of Kohli equalling or bettering Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 100 centuries seemed a matter of when and not if. But now, with Kohli 33 years old and already speaking about maintaining his workload and not playing when he loses the fire within, it doesn’t seem like a foregone conclusion.

(Note: Scroll horizontally or swipe right to view columns in the tables below)

Since Kohli’s 70th ton, which was his 27th in Test cricket, he has scored 1989 runs in 56 innings across formats, going past fifty 20 times. His highest score in this period is 94* which, in fact, is the first innings he played after that Eden Gardens ton – in a T20I against West Indies.

In his international cricket career, this is by some distance his leanest patch. Only in 2008, when he made his international debut and played just 5 innings, did he go without a century before 2020 and 2021. While 2020 saw minimal cricket around the globe, 2021 has not seen him reach his best yet either with just over a month left to go. This two-year period stands out especially so because it came after a stunning run of 36 centuries he scored in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 combined. In 2018, in fact, he had stunning conversion rate of going into three figures 11 out of the 20 times he reached 50 in an innings.

While it is clearly the leanest patch in Kohli’s career, the question then is how does it compare with the rest of batters in international cricket? It throws up some interesting numbers. Kohli is joint 2nd-most on this list in that period, with his 20 fifty-plus scores bettered only by Pakistan’s Babar Azam.

Going by the frequency of fifty-plus scores across formats with a cut off of 10 such scores (Total innings played per No. of 50+ innings), Kohli is still fifth best in the world.

Clearly, the slump is relative in international cricket and only becomes pronounced with his own lofty standards of the past.

The real recent lows for Kohli have come in Test cricket, a format that he relishes the most evidently. He has played some really good knocks on tough pitches in this period, showing great control, but the consistency of big scores has eluded him. His five 50-plus scores in that period is the joint 21st in the list. His strong suit has been in the ODIs historically and even during this period, no man has scored more 50-plus knocks than Kohli (8, joint-best with Shai Hope and KL Rahul). Clearly, in ODIs he has still maintained a great record. The T20I century continues to remain elusive for him but his overall numbers are still decent, with seven T20I 50-plus scores putting him joint sixth.

There have been some close calls for Kohli in the intervening period but given that he will be coming back after a break, and increasingly more conscious of keeping a manageable workload, and that it will be in Mumbai for a home Test match, it would once again take a brave human to bet against the century wait coming to an end.

All stats for men’s international cricket as of November 23, 2021 and courtesy ESPNCricinfo Statsguru