After the Twenty20 series win over West Indies and Sri Lanka, the spotlight of team India now switches to Tests, which starts on March 5 between India and Sri Lanka in Mohali.
It’s a landmark Test for Kohli, who will be playing his 100th Test and all eyes will be on the ex-Indian captain who stepped down as captain after the South Africa series, which India lost 2/1 to the Proteas.
Kohli’s hundredth Test, which was initially scheduled to be played behind closed doors, got the approval from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) that 50 per cent spectators will be now allowed to watch the historic game, which is a real good news for the fans who will be eager to watch their hero score a hundred in his hundredth Test match. A century has been eluding Kohli since November 22, 2019 when he last scored a Test hundred against Bangladesh at the Eden Gardens.
Kohli, who had made his debut in 2011 against West Indies, scored his first Test hundred against the Australians at Adelaide in his eighth Test. From there on until 2019 he further scored 26 hundreds to take his tally to 27 in 99 Tests at an average of 50.39, which includes seven double centuries.
Long century drought
But it has been 15 Tests now that Kohli has gone without scoring a hundred and every time he walks in to bat in a Test, the fans and cricket pundits just have one question in their minds — when will Kohli score his next hundred? A century has been eluding him for 27 months, which is too long a drought for a player of his calibre.
He has played three Test matches before this on at the Mohali Cricket Stadium, but is yet to score a century at the famed venue. All eyes will be once again on King Kohli, who will be able to break the jinx and get to the three-figure mark, which is long overdue.
Sunil Gavaskar, who was the first Indian to play hundred Tests, is also hoping that the former Indian captain scores a hundred in his 100th Test. Kohli will become the 11th Indian player to reach the landmark, which adds another feather in his impressive career.
Only nine players till date have managed to score a hundred in their hundredth Test, and one hopes for his fans Virat Kohli becomes the tenth player to score this special hundred.
