Kohli rates it second to Adelaide ton
Birmingham, Aug. 3: Virat Kohli single- handedly kept India in the first Test with his maiden hundred in England but the captain would still rate the memorable knock second to his 141 in a lost run- chase against Australia in Adelaide almost four years ago.
“This could come second to Adelaide. Adelaide remains very special to me. It was second innings and we were chasing a target ( 364) on day five,” Kohli told bcci. tv after his masterful 149 on day two here.
“I had total clarity in my mind that we were going for the target. That was a beautiful zone to be in. A b o u t t h i s innings, I am very happy and grateful,” he added.
Kohli had scored two hundreds in the game at Adelaide in December 2014 but lack of support led to India losing the game by 48 runs.
It was tough in the middle yesterday with the ball moving around but Kohli overcame the challenge to register his first 40- plus score in England.
“His 149 was 15 more than the sum total of his 10 innings in England four years ago.
Kohli was the last wicket to fall, taking India to 274 all out from a precarious 182 for eight. The effort was just 13 shy of England’s 287 in the first innings.
“It was not only about getting to the three- figure mark but to continue from there on.
“I was very disappointed when I got out because we could have taken a 10- 15 run lead. But in hindsight we would not have been able to bowl at them. I am just happy with my preparation and not worried about the world,” he said.
His nemesis on the previous tour, James Anderson, tested him to the hilt but this time Kohli came out on top.
Balls faced by Kohli after the fall of seventh 116 wicket in the innings compared to just 37 balls by his partners for the last three wickets. Ishant Sharma faced 17, Umesh Yadav 16 and Mohammad Shami 4. Kohli therefore faced over 75% of the deliveries batting with the tail and struck 92 runs. Percentage of fifties that Kohli has 73.33 converted into centuries in Tests since 2016. He has passed fifty 15 times and on 11 occasions he went to a century. His rate is the best among all 62 batsmen who have crossed fifty on five or more occasions in this period.