India skipper Virat Kohli recorded his maiden Test century on the English soil during the second day’s play of the first Test at the Edgbaston cricket ground in Birmingham on Thursday.
In reply to England’s first innings total of 287, India were tottering at 100 for 5 amidst adverse conditions. However, Virat was determined to bury the demons of his previous England tour as he fought a lone battle to complete his 22nd Test hundred.
The 29-year-old hit Ben Stokes for a boundary to bring up his century that came off 172 balls. After getting a life on a dropped catch at the ꩵsecond slip on 21, Kohli hardly lost his focus all through the innings. His crafty hundred was laced with 14 boundaries.
It is worth mentioning here that Virat hasn’t been able to perform at his best in red-ball cricket on English soil despite boasting an awe-inspiring record all over the world.
During the 2014 England tour, Kohli aggregated onꦡly 134 runs at a dismal average of 13.40 in five Test matches. ꦐNo wonder, this innings has come as a relief to him.
C🏅ricket experts and fans were in awe to see the way Kohli crafted his innings a🃏midst the middle order collapse.
Here are some of the best tweets:
A very important🦩 knock by . Lovely way to set up the Test series. Congrats on you𒈔r Test hundred.
— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt)
Great start to t🔯he series for 👏 Sensational Batting !!
— Suresh Raina🇮🇳 (@ImRaina)
That’s an incredible knock !!! 1 man battle against the moving ball …..
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan)
A masterclass from Virat Kohli, leading from the front. A display of tr🦩emendous character deter💦mination and grit
— VVS Laxman (@VVSLaxman281)
The genius of lies in making a tremendously difficult knock look ridiculousl💯y easy.
Wha൩t a remarkable fighter, and what a remarkable🏅 century!
— Col Rajyavardhan Rathore (@Ra_THORe)
WHAT A CHAMPION 100 👏👏👏 captain leading from the front.. much needed…absolutely brilliant welldone too 👍
— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh)
What a player what a knock
— Mason Crane (@masoncrane32)
Take a bow . Brilliant ton when the team needed it♎ the most. All the 2014 talk has been laid to rest by this special batsman. 👏
— MANOJ TIWARY (@tiwarymanoj)
This man proves himself again and again with such crucial knocks. A hundred and that too playing with the tail which is not an easy task at all. Required a lot of patience and determination. What a 💜player! ⛦
— R P Singh रुद्र प्रताप सिंह (@rpsingh)
This knock ♌of reminds me of ’s role in the movie ca🧸lled “THE LAST STAND”. 👏🏼 👍🏼
— Pragyan Ojha (@pragyanojha)
//twitter.com/shani_official/status/10250548368306790☂40
Just stood up in our studio and applauded. One of Kohli's best. Full of grit and patience. Proper test match batting. .
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha)
So adorable that there were people that thought Kohli wouldn't absolutely boss it in England in this series.
— Peter Miller (@TheCricketGeek)
Congratulations to for a fantastic 💯,great knock! A captain leading from the front, a delight to watch♕.
— Azhar Mahmood (@AzharMahmood11)
First Century. Fir𒀰st of Many. Well played, Virat Kohli. Best batsman on the planet.
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash)
King K!
— zainab abbas (@ZAbbasOfficial)
Under the circumstances, one of ’ꩲs greatest centuries. What a player, what a fighter.
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan)
is just now all people can 🤫 about him getting r🍬uns in England
— Alex Tudor (@alextudorcoach)
One of his most im♛portant hundreds. An absolutely💜 brilliant innings from . Has single handedly kept India in the game. What a player !
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif)
Virat Kohli really is a great player.💞 But I still fa✨ncy England for the test series.
— Oliver Phelps (@OliverPhelps)
Thoroughly enjoyed watching that battle. Test cricket at it's best. Triumph over adversity and a joy to watch Virat Kohli craft, construct and conquer his surroundings on to his 22nd test century.
— Ian Raphael Bishop (@irbishi)
Such is the ridiculous genius of Virat Kohli that I'm not even sure this is one of his top five centuries.
— Jonathan Liew (@jonathanliew)
For one of the best stroke players in the world, this Virat 100 was about ‘not’ playing strokes.
Left 40 balls alone. 26 against Anderson. That’s more than 4 overs of Anderson left alone!
👏👏👏🙏🙏🙏— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar)
Brilliant knock from Kohli. Well played.
— James Taylor (@jamestaylor20)
A lot of heat on Kohli and produces൩ a 100 in his first innings. 🐬🏏
— Usman Khawaja (@Uz_Khawaja)
Virat Kohli. A superstar and ✃genuine box office. Backs it allꦫ up with brilliance.
— Phil McNulty (@philmcnulty)
Legend 🏏 💯
— Tino95 (@tinobest)
Outstanding 💯 from Kohli
— David 'Bumble' Lloyd (@BumbleCricket)
I wonder where will be ranked amongst the Pantheon of great Indian Test match batsmen 🏏🔥 Truly phenomenal relentless drive, skill and passion whilst representing Indi♉a 🇮🇳
— Robin John Peterson (@robbie13flair)
Virat Kohli is a great batsman and
true leader. Single handedly he took India near England's score.— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN)
Reckon he might be alright at cricket ꧃that Kohli l෴ad.
— Elizabeth Ammon (@legsidelizzy)
Forget record books🧸, think Virat should have one for himself. This is some statement from the Indian Sk𒈔ipper.
— Hemang Badani (@hemangkbadani)
India’s future is safe. Vira♛t Kohli is already in the 22nd century.
— Ramesh Srivats (@rameshsrivats)
Virat Kohli has clearly demonstrated his quality and maturity as batsman/captain! Watching some of t💯he shots he played during the innings and the manner he dominated the English bowling confirms he is class above the rest of the batsmen in worldဣ cricket today!
— Roshan Abeysinghe (@RoshanCricket)
King Kohli departs for 149 after a masterclass. Edgbaston stands u𓄧p to applaud him. Few hours after booing him. This is sport. Never writ𝓰e off champions.
— Sohini M. (@Mittermaniac)