Virat Kohli’s last century in international cricket was in November 2019 and it was in the Pink Ball Test against Bangladesh in November 2019.
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Virat Kohli’s numbers in cricket are staggering. The Indian cricket team skipper averages 59 in ODIs, 52 in Tests, and a magnificent 52 in Twenty20 Internationals. Kohli is the only player in world cricket to average over 50 in all three formats. During the recent five-match Twenty20 Internationals against England, Kohli scored 73*,77*, and 80* as India won the series 3-2. During the ODI in Pune on Tuesday, Kohli looked in ominous form right from the first ball he faced and he raced to his 61st fifty. However, on 56, he was dismissed by Mark Wood and it continued a worrying trend of not having scored a century for a long time.
Although Kohli became the fastest to 10,000 runs at home, he is actually in the middle of a lean patch. August 14, 2019, was the last time Kohli had scored a 100 in an ODI and that was against the West Indies in Port of Spain. November 22, 2019, was the last time Kohli had hit a Test century and that was against Bangladesh in the inaugural Pink Ball Test at the Eden Gardens. Thus, Kohli has not scored a century in ODIs for close to 600 days. Thus, it has now been close to 550 days that Kohli hit a ton.
The fact that Kohli has not scored a century for close to two years is surprising. When he scored his 43rd ODI century in 2019, many felt he would overhaul Sachin Tendulkar’s tally of 51 ODI centuries. Yet, almost two years later, Kohli is still stuck on 43 centuries. Just FYI, Tendulkar took 369 days to score his 100th international hundred after his 99th ton.
Kohli has had a woeful 2020. In Tests, ODIs and Twenty20 Internationals, he failed to score a single century for the whole year. In Tests, he averaged just 19.33. His average of 47.88 in ODIs was the worst since 2015. But, in that year, he had also hit two centuries. In Twenty20s, his average of 36 was his lowest since 2018.
The lofty standards set by Kohli make it hard to write that even an average of 47 is bad. But, such has been his dominance that this current lean streak is a bit odd. From August 2019 till now, he has hit seven ODI fifties but each time, he has thrown his wicket away. In Tests, he has managed just three fifties in this period.
During his glory run prior to 2019, it was statistically explained that Kohli could score close to 65 ODI tons and over 20,000 runs should he maintain the consistency. This lean patch might result in some slight rework when it comes to overhauling Tendulkar’s tally of 18426 runs as well as number of international centuries.
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