Watch: ‘He’s back’ – Virat Kohli strokes sumptuous, second successive ODI century
Watch: After a 1,214-day wait without an ODI century, Virat Kohli has now brought up two hundreds in two games in the format.
His latest effort, against Sri Lanka, was vintage Kohli, filled with plenty of hard running as well as lots of sumptuous strokeplay. Coming in after a 143-run opening stand, he drove India to a mammoth total of 373-7 in the first ODI in Guwahati.
Kohli got into his work straightaway – only two of his first 14 deliveries were dots, and included three well-struck boundaries – as he raced to 24. It took another 32 balls for his next boundary to arrive, but it was worth the wait, Kohli skipping down the track to deposit Dhananjaya de Silva over mid-wicket for six to bring up fifty.
He survived two scares soon after, Kusal Mendis shelling a routine outside edge behind the stumps, and a pull dropping just short of the deep mid-wicket fielder and bouncing over his head for four in a spell of four boundaries in eight balls.
Another boundaryless stretch followed, and again a life brought about a change in intent. When Dasun Shanaka put down a chance at extra cover, Kohli pulled and then drove two fours in two balls straight after before a single took him into the nineties. Five more singles, a slower ball put away, and a drive down to long-off brought up his 45th ODI hundred.
Kohli ended up making 113 off 87, all the more remarkable for only containing 54 runs in boundaries. His last ODI innings was also a hundred, against Bangladesh, again made at a brisk pace despite a low boundary percentage, and again at a mammoth total. After a long time in the wilderness, India fans will be hoping Kohli is back to his best at long last.
