If you were sleeping last night and missed the fifth West Indies-India One-Day International in Jamaica, you didn’t miss much – Virat Kohli just scored another century in a chase.
Yeah, what else is new, right? Except, when we look back at Kohli’s stats from some time in the future, this century might occupy some more pride of place than the others. Not because of the knock itself, but because Kohli officially went past Sachin Tendulkar to score his 18th hundred in a chase and break the record the most number of centuries by a batsman in the second innings.
Smh Kohli is unbelievable pic.twitter.com/IQuHdQwNEB
— Thabang (@walker8701) July 6, 2017
Incredible, right? But trust Kohli to be typically self-effacing about it...
Good game and a good series win.. Now onto Sunday for the T20 match. 👍☺️ pic.twitter.com/QFyHRYuh6T
— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) July 7, 2017
But, don’t make any mistake about it, this one meant a lot to him. The last few weeks haven’t been great going for the Indian captain. Internal instability, a loss against Pakistan in a Champions Trophy final and some rare failures against West Indies had got a few critics out. And what response did Kohli have for them? This:
This celebration @imVkohli 🔥🔥🔥 😍😘#Virat King #Kohli#ViratKohli #Video #CaptainFearless #WIvIND #WIvsIND #century #TeamIndia #bleedblue pic.twitter.com/C3ZelzlD8o
— Messi 💓 Antonela (@ImSSuresh) July 6, 2017
And when Kohli plays like that, even the best can’t hold back their praise:
The emotion from @imVkohli shows how much it meant to him. 18 in run chases now, just another record
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) July 6, 2017
Of course, India are Kohli-pendent and the captain has showed that again. 18th ton in a chase by @imVkohli - Some numbers those.
— Nikhil 🏏 (@CricCrazyNIKS) July 6, 2017
The number of centuries was not the only marker in which Kohli crossed Tendulkar:
Most times remained not-out in chases while scoring a century:
— Umang Pabari (@UPStatsman) July 6, 2017
9 - VIRAT KOHLI*
8 - Sachin Tendulkar
7 - Saeed Anwar #WIvIND
He just gets better...
After his 111*, @imVkohli now has an average in ODIs batting second of 66.26 with a strike rate of 93.42 #howzstat pic.twitter.com/QLo83PqSRF
— ICC (@ICC) July 7, 2017
...and better...
Highest career batting average in each of the three intl formats:
— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) July 7, 2017
Tests: Don Bradman 99.94
ODIs: Virat Kohli 54.68
T20Is: Virat Kohli 53.41
Kohli's ODI career is less than 9 years old and he already has 28 centuries. 18 of them while chasing. Sachin in 22 yrs scored 17 in chases.
— Mazher Arshad (@MazherArshad) July 7, 2017
...and better. Simply put, unreal!
Among batsmen with 1000+ runs in successful chases in ODIs, two Indians are on top- Virat Kohli 97.97,followed by MS Dhoni 97.36 😮🙏#WIvIND
— Rajneesh Gupta (@rgcricket) July 7, 2017
Virat Kohli is just 2 ODI centuries behind Ricky Ponting and has played just half of what Ponting has. UNREAL.
— Aakash (@PUNchayati) July 7, 2017