It was always coming. Virat Kohli’s ODI hundred No.49 was never a question of how but more of where and when. The magical number was agonisingly close in Dharamsala, in touching distance at the Wankhede and the helmet finally came off at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata. And when it did, there were no loud grunts or fist pumps. A gentle raise of the bat and he soaked it all in, just like he did after ending the long wait for Test hundred in Ahmedabad earlier this year.
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The sheer magnitude of the number and Kohli reaching there in lightning quick time, 277 innings compared to Sachin Tendulkar’s 451, makes it all the more special and speaks volumes of the success and domination he has enjoyed in the format. Look around, even with the sharpest binoculars on, and you won’t find anyone even close to getting there. And it was no surprise that the crowd got behind India’s run-machine moment he entered the 70s.
“Aaram se khel le Kohli bhai (play watchfully Kohli brother),” screamed one while the other added, “khada reh aaj 100 lagegi (stay there, hundred will be scored)”.
From there on, every run which came off his bat and every delivery he shouldered arms to for a wide became an event. An event which saw the chants and noise only get louder. When they saw the birthday boy struggling to get going in Tabraiz Shamsi’s final spell, the crowd sensed frustration and broke into a deafening “Kohli, Kohli” chant. One of the loudest, if not the loudest, of the evening.
They badly wanted to see the helmet come off and when the individual score moved into the 90s, the phones were out to capture “I was there moment” and the thousands of flashlights resembled fireflies on a dark night. They kept riding the numerous mexican waves and the tri-colour was waved aggressively every time the DJ played “Chak De India”.
The magical moment finally came in the 49th over when Kohli punched one to covers and gently strolled to complete the single and bring up his hundred. The 49th ODI hundred. There were only two more deliveries faced after getting there and he walked off to a standing ovation from the thousands in the stands. High-fives and congratulatory hugs followed on way to the dressing room and Kohli ensured to acknowledge the screaming crowd right over the dressing room with a raise of the bat.
Another song of ice and fire
Kohli’s knock, in fact India’s innings, could well be divided into two unequal halves featuring the first ten overs and the remainder. An on-song Rohit Sharma made batting look ridiculously easy during another of his new-ball assault and the momentum was later carried on by Shubman Gill and Kohli.
Kohli himself raced to 18 off just 14 deliveries, smoked four gorgeous boundaries but the complexion of his and India’s innings completely changed moment spin was introduced.
Also Read: A Statistical Breakdown of Kohli’s 49 ODI Centuries
Gill was undone by Keshav Maharaj’s drift, turn and deception and from there on it was a tough grind for Kohli and the batters to follow. The middle-overs saw India switch a couple of gears down and it was more about the old-fashioned ODI grind where ones and twos remained order of the day. It was Shreyas Iyer, after a very scratchy start, who stepped on the accelerator and give the innings much needed impetus. As the boundaries came thick and fast from the other end, Kohli continued with his rotation of strike and looked determined to bat deep. Something which he has looked to do right through the tournament.
Scores of 101*, 88, 0, 95, 103*, 16, 55* and 85 in the World Cup are a testament of him sticking to the batting deep template and it has not only held the innings together but also allowed the others around him to bat freely. The Eden Gardens strip wasn’t an easy wicket to bat on in the middle overs. The ball was gripping and the “chattak” sound off the bat, heard loud and clear during the first ten overs, was missing when the slow bowlers were in operation.
Yes, it wasn’t a fluent Kohli hundred by any stretch of imagination but these old-fashioned grinds speak volumes about a player’s temperament of reading situation and then playing to it. During the mid-innings chat, Kohli revealed that in absence of Hardik Pandya taking the match deep was always the plan and they stuck to it.
While sticking to the plan, Kohli equalled Tendulkar’s record of 49 ODI hundreds and like 49th, the 50th is just a matter of when and where, and not how.
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