CHENNAI: It's not like Virat Kohli hasn't gotten there before. He has gotten to that milestone figure 51 times before in ODIs; 82 times across formats for India. For Kohli, ODI century is a norm. No one has more hundreds in the format. In fact the next two active players behind him are his partner-in-crime Rohit Sharma (33) and the keeper behind his batting crease, Quinton de Kock (22).
But as Kohli guided South Africa's Marco Jansen on the fifth ball of the 38th over in Ranchi on Sunday, the world knew what this particular hundred, 52nd in ODIs, meant to him. He jogged to the other end, leapt like phoenix and punched his fist in the air and let out a roar. Before even he could loft his bat and celebrate, a fan ran on to the ground to touch his feet. That fan, much like the thousands in the ground and millions watching the match live, was aware that he had witnessed an ODI century for the ages.
For this was not like any other Kohli century in recent years. He hadn't batted like he did on Sunday in a while. Kohli's hundreds usually have a template to it, especially in the last three years. More often than not it has been about Kohli the master run-accumulator who plays risk-free strokes and runs between wickets like no one else in the world could. Kohli picks the bad ball out, rotates strike of the rest, making sure the scoreboard moves. Every ODI century he has scored since December 2022 has at least 55 non-boundary runs. In all the eight centuries in this period, they account for 54 per cent.
Sunday, however, was not that kind of a day. Not by a long mile — only 49 runs of the 120-ball 135 were non-boundary runs as Kohli hit 11 fours and seven sixes, helping India get to 349/8. And he did all that while battling a back issue.
From the time he hit that straight drive — after a few edgy balls — down the ground in the sixth over, it seemed clear that Kohli was in his zone. A zone where he makes even the best batters in the world look ordinary in comparison. There are far too may non-century innings in the past, and even a few hundreds, where he had looked so before. But not in the last few years. Here, Kohli was in the middle out-batting, out-scoring his batting partner Rohit Sharma, who has been the best ODI opener and aggressor in the last three years.
Kohli, very unlike himself, was lining up Jansen and lofting him off the front foot down the ground for a six in the powerplay. Soon after, he charged at Ottniel Baartman and got the same result, hitting the pacer over long-off. And that was just the beginning. Rohit took his time early on as Kohli drove pacers, charged and lofted spinners, brought out his wrist to flick seamers like he was playing a computer game. Such was the space he was in, Kohli seemed to be batting in autoplay mode. The upper cuts, backfoot punches, short-arm pulls — the 37-year-old brought out everything as he added 136 runs with Rohit, who also scored a fifty.
At some point, Kohli perhaps knew the remarkable nature of his knock and it showed in the century celebration. The leap and roar are usually reserved for special occasions, especially when you have as many hundreds as Kohli. The last time he leapt in the air for an ODI ton was in a World Cup semifinal when he surpassed Tendulkar to make history in Mumbai. Here, however, the context is different. He and Rohit has been under immense pressure since the Champions Trophy win, especially once they expressed their intentions to play till the 2027 WC.
In the time since, they were, sort of, phased out and retired from Tests, making it the only format they play. Kohli's first two outings for India post that were ducks before he scored a fifty, along with Rohit's ton, to help India finish 1-2 in Australia. And even coming into the SA series, speculations were ripe on their ODI future with selectors and team management remaining non-committal. The former captain knew what he had to do. He just had to come out and do Kohli things that no one else in the world could. And Kohli did just that reminding the world why he is still the best ODI batter for India and he is not going to give that away anytime soon.
Brief scores: India 349/8 in 50 ovs (Kohli 135, Sharma 57, Rahul 60; Baartman 2/60) bt South Africa 332 in 49.2 ovs (Breetzke 72, Jansen 70, Bosch 67; Kuldeep 4/68, Rana 3/65).
