Records Beckon Virat Kohli in 100th Test Match at Mohali

Virat Kohli is set to become only the 12th Indian cricketer to play 100 Test matches.

Virat Kohli training in Mohali before his 100th Test

Image: BCCI

After winning the T20 series against Sri Lanka with ease, the Indian men’s cricket team, led by Rohit Sharma, have turned their focus to the Tests. The first Test will be played in Mohali, and is also set to be Virat Kohli’s 100^th game.

Kohli, who is set to become only the 12^th Indian cricketer to play 100 Tests, will also become the 71^st player to feature in so many games in the history of the format. The most Tests have been played by Sachin Tendulkar, who finished with 200.

Kohli made his Test debut in 2011 against West Indies and scored 19 in his first game. Kohli’s most successful year in the longest format was 2016 when he hammered 1215 runs in 12 Tests. And as captain, Kohli led the team in 68 Tests and won 40 matches. He's scored 20 centuries in Tests as captain.

Currently regarded as one of the best batters in the game, Kohli is only 38 runs away from completing 8000 runs in the longest format of the game. If Kohli does score the required 38 runs in the first innings, he will become the fifth fastest Indian batter to reach the milestone behind Sachin Tendulkar (154 innings), Rahul Dravid (158 innings) Virender Sehwag (160 innings) and Sunil Gavaskar (166 innings). Kohli has so far batted in 168 innings.

While that is one milestone, the much awaited 71^st century is also some thing that fans are expecting from the former India captain. The last time Kohli scored a century in any format including the Test was way back in 2019 against Bangladesh, when he scored 136 at Eden Gardens. In the last 5 Tests that Kohli has played, he has scored 208 runs at an average of 26 and has been dismissed for a duck thrice in 8 innings.

Kohli, who is also returning from a short break, will take heart from his performances against Sri Lanka the last time they toured India for a Test series in 2017. He had scored 610 runs in 3 Tests, including double centuries (213 at Nagpur and 243 at Delhi).

Kohli’s 100^th Test at Mohali will see spectators, though only at 50% capacity due to COVID-19 restrictions. The PCA had also decided to felicitate Kohli on his landmark achievement of playing 100 Tests. Kohli has scored 7962 runs from 99 Tests at an average of 50.39.