On this day in 2009, i.e. December 24, 2009, Indian cricket team’s current captain Virat Kohli scored his maiden century in ODIs. Kohli played a brilliant knock of 107 runs in the 4th ODI of Sri Lanka’s tour of India to help the Men in a Blue chase down a big target of 316 runs at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. The century was the first of the 43 tons that Kohli has under his belt in ODIs so far in his career.
On This Day: Virat Kohli scored maiden ODI century against Sri Lanka
His century came in a pressure chase after Sri Lanka posted a big total of 315 runs on the board, riding on a tremendous 118-run knock from opener Upul Tharanga. Tharanga gave Sri Lanka a good start but the visitors lost early wickets to be in a spot of bother. However, with the help of his ton and Sangakkara’s classy 62, Sri Lanka managed to cross the 300-run mark.
India’s chase was dented early by pacer Suranga Lakmal, who dismissed openers Virender Sehwag (10) and Sachin Tendulkar (8) cheaply before Kohli combined with Gautam Gambhir to post a match-winning stand of 224 runs for the third wicket and seal the deal for the Men in Blue. Kohli slammed 11 fours and one six in his 107-run knock while Gambhir scored a magnificent 150 off 137 balls with the help of 14 fours. This enabled India to have a seven-wicket victory over Sri Lanka.
Virat scored maiden ODI century against Sri Lanka Highlights
Kohli who currently has 43 hundred to his name in the ODI format, Has finished 2019 with the second-highest runs in the ODI format. He finished with 1,377 runs ODI runs this year, only behind team-mate Rohit Sharma. He smashed 42 ODI centuries and 11,125 runs in the last decade – which is the most by any batsmen in the world.
In the longest format of the game, Kohli has 27 hundred to his credit. This year, he became the most successful Test skipper of India, surpassing MS Dhoni. Kohli amassed 2455 runs in 44 matches in 2019 at an average of over 65.
