Adding another feather to his illustrious cap, Virat Kohli on Saturday equalled Australian great Ricky Ponting’s record of 41 international centuries as captain.
Kohli stood out with his dominant knock and completed his 27th century before falling to a stunning catch by Taijul Islam.
Kohli brought up his 70th overall ton with a brace off Taijul in the 68th over, on the second day of India’s maiden day-night Test in Kolkata against Bangladesh.
With the century, Kohli’s 20th as India captain in Tests, the talismanic batsman also surpassed Ponting’s tally of 19 Test tons as skipper. Only former South Africa skipper Graeme Smith has more centuries than Kohli with 25 tons to his name as captain.
Picking up from where he left off at the end of day one, Kohli built crucial partnerships including a 99-run stand with overnight partner Rahane.
The star batsman smashed paceman Abu Jayed for four straight boundaries in one over before finishing with 18 fours in his 194-ball stay.
Kohli put on a masterclass in front-foot batting on his way to yet another Test century. During the course of his century, the quality of driving stood out as he clinically dismantled the Bangladeshi bowlers.
On Friday, Kohli had become the fastest to 5000 runs as captain, completing the feat in 86 innings during day one of the pink ball Test.
Here are the statistical highlights from day two in Kolkata:
Most centuries (Tests/ODIs/T20Is) as captain
Player | Combined # of innings | Runs | Ave | 100s | 50s |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
V Kohli (INDIA) | 188 | 10663 | 67.06 | 41 | 37 |
RT Ponting (AUS/ICC) | 376 | 15440 | 45.54 | 41 | 88 |
GC Smith (Afr/ICC/SA) | 368 | 14878 | 43.12 | 33 | 77 |
SPD Smith (AUS) | 118 | 5885 | 57.13 | 20 | 27 |
MJ Clarke (AUS) | 171 | 7060 | 47.38 | 19 | 25 |
BC Lara (WI) | 204 | 8410 | 45.45 | 19 | 37 |
DPMD Jayawardene (Asia/SL) | 205 | 7673 | 41.70 | 18 | 35 |
AR Border (AUS) | 319 | 11062 | 41.27 | 17 | 63 |
SR Waugh (AUS) | 172 | 6299 | 43.44 | 17 | 26 |
Red ball - Scored a century in his first innings as captain.
— bet365 (@bet365) November 23, 2019
White ball - Scored a century in his second innings as captain.
Pink ball - Scored a century in his first innings as captain.
Virat Kohli = 👑#INDvBAN pic.twitter.com/sGDAoCu22Q
First Indians to hit a ton in:
— Sarang Bhalerao (@bhaleraosarang) November 23, 2019
Day/Night ODI: Sanjay Manjrekar v SA at New Delhi (1991)
Day/Night T20I: Rohit Sharma v SA at Dharamsala (2015)
Day/Night Test: VIRAT KOHLI v Bangladesh at Eden Gardens (2019)#INDvBAN #PinkBallTest
Highest score by a Captain In Day/Night Test
— CricBeat (@Cric_beat) November 23, 2019
Kohli - 136 (Today)
Root - 136 (2017)
Smith - 130 (2016)#INDvBAN
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Both Virat Kohli and Ishant Sharma made their first-class debut in the same match. [Delhi vs Tamil Nadu]
— Sampath Bandarupalli (@SampathStats) November 23, 2019
- Ishant Sharma took the 1st 5-fer haul in a D/N Test for India
- Virat Kohli scored the 1st century in a D/N Test for India#INDvBAN
Most Test 100s as captain:
— ICC (@ICC) November 23, 2019
Graeme Smith 👉 25
Virat Kohli 👉 20
Ricky Ponting 👉 19
Kohli has gone to No.2 on the list today! #INDvBAN pic.twitter.com/EOaI6QqLMF
Virat Kohli's last score across various formats & leagues at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata
— Perry's Warrior #AnyoneButKXIP (@k_vijayendra8) November 23, 2019
T20Is: 55* v Pakistan, World T20 2016
ODIs: 92 v Australia, 2nd ODI 2017
Tests: 130* (Batting) v Bangladesh, 2nd Test 2019
IPL: 100 v KKR, 2019 #INDvBAN pic.twitter.com/54l7VEb5sK
That Virat has equalled Ricky Ponting's world record in exactly half the innings is simply mind blowing.
— Rajneesh Gupta (@rgcricket) November 23, 2019
👏👏👏#PinkBallTest #PinkBall #INDvBAN https://t.co/CIC8t0bHoi
- As Kohli asked Mohammad Shami and Wriddhiman Saha to return to the dressing room, India extended their streak of not being bowled out in an innings.
India's totals this home season
— Deepu Narayanan (@deeputalks) November 23, 2019
502/7 d
323/4 d
601/5 d
497/9 d
493/6 d
347/9 d
Sixth time in as many innings, Kohli has ended the inngs declared. #INDvBAN
Most consecutive innings declared by a team in Test cricket:
— Sampath Bandarupalli (@SampathStats) November 23, 2019
7* - INDIA in 2019
6 - England in 2009#INDvBAN
- Bangladesh’s batting woes were summed up by the dreadful run of their openers as well as a pair of ducks for skipper Mominul Haque.
Last 25 opening partnerships vs India in India
— Deepu Narayanan (@deeputalks) November 23, 2019
17 10 10 29 0 20 0 0 14 15 19 2 32 32 0 14 4 2 0 4 5 12 10 15 0
Only one among these 25 partnerships lasted more than eight overs.#INDvBAN #PinkBallTest
Pair for Bangladesh captains in a Test:
— Umang Pabari (@UPStatsman) November 23, 2019
Habibul Bashar v Zimbabwe, Harare, 2004
Mominul Haque v India, Kolkata, 2019*#INDvBAN
(With PTI inputs)