Every cricketer, regardless of their playing role in the team, has that one place or country that they love to go to because they do so well in the specific condition/s. For Kohli, his has to be Australia as he always performs well and scores plenty of centuries when he travels there.
In Australia, Kohli has now hit 7 centuries. The 7th came in the recently concluded 1st Test, at Perth, where India won by 295 runs. This century marked the end of the drought he was going through. Prior to this one, his last century came in 2023, against the West Indies, at Port of Spain, where he scored 121.
He has now surpassed the great Sachin Tendulkar for most Test centuries scored in Australia by an Indian. Additionally, he's now equal with former English player, Wally Hammond, for Test centuries scored by a visiting player. Another Englishman, Jack Hobbs, tops the list with 9. However, Kohli tops the list for most centuries scored across all formats in Australua (10).
After only managing two Test tons in the previous five years, the 36-year-old star entered the series under growing scrutiny. In their most recent humiliating 0-3 home series loss to New Zealand, he averaged barely 15 (15.50), raising concerns over whether he should still be selected automatically.
This one came as a bit of a shock for everyone. Twenty-two people had more runs than he did over the last five years leading into the Perth Test and thirty-eight people had more centuries. Upon reaching his historic century, he made loving gestures towards his wife. He said, "Anushka [Sharma, Kohli's wife] has been there by my side through thick and thin so she knows everything that goes on behind the scenes when I'm in the room, what goes on in the head when you don't play as well or you make a few mistakes when you are getting yourself in."
There was also outside noise going on in the background throughout his innings. The outside noise was about a player who is 36 years old and averaging 33.45 over his last 35 Tests; which is usually only about one thing.
He continued, "So I just wanted to contribute to the team's cause, I'm not a guy who wants to hang around just for the sake of it. Take great pride in performing for my country, just feels amazing and the fact she's here makes it even more special."
Indian opener, Yashasvi Jaiswal, confirmed that India were going to give Kohli time: "That was [what was] going on, that we were waiting for his hundred." Kohli wasn't oblivious. He knew he was on the clock and so he started to ditch the perfect shots for the imperfect ones, like where he reached out in front of his body and whip-drove Nathan Lyon down the ground for a six. Kohli doesn't do sixes in Test cricket. The two he scored here takes his count to 30 (hundreds), from 119 matches.
This was his 30th Test century. He went past the late, great, Don Bradman on the overall Test Hundreds scored. He's now equal with former Aussie, Matthew Hayden and former West Indian, Shivnarine Chanderpaul. Only fourteen players have scored more Test tons and among active batters, he's led only by Steve Smith and Kane Williamson (both have scored 32).
Not suprisingly, Sachin Tendulkar leads the pack with 51.
Kohli going from 70 to 76 kicked everything up a notch. This game had gone to incredible places many times over the past three days but now the crowd really got into it. They banged on the drums. They chanted his name. They willed him on. They roared for his runs - not just the boundaries; the twos that were bringing him back on strike. It was loud when he got to fifty. It was louder with every run he made that took him towards the hundred.
Kohli brought his century up with a sweep for four; except he wasn't sure if it was four. The fielder at deep square leg had put in a dive and he couldn't see if he had pulled it back or not. So there he was, in the middle of the pitch, waiting for confirmation that the ball had gone to the boundary and none would arrive. Except, straight behind him, on the sight screen were the numbers 100 in bright white on a blue background. They were framing him even as he was looking all around, waiting to see whether he could celebrate or not. This hundred snuck up on everybody.
Stand-in Indian skipper, Jasprit Bumrah, said it best, "I have said this before, Virat Kohli doesn't need us, we need him. He is an experienced player. This is his fourth or fifth tour. So he knows his cricket better than anyone else. He looked in good shape, he was mentally switched on. Sometimes when you have such a long career, you bat in tough conditions and he has batted in tough scenarios for a long time, but it's difficult to do that all the time in every match."
"But he looked to be in a good space and obviously, he got a good delivery in the first innings, but he was still in a great space and he capitalised in the second innings. We needed an experienced batter then. He also played well, and helped his partners play well as well. So obviously, when he gets confidence at the start of the series, you can't ask for more than that."
Virat Kohli is, without a doubt, a great cricketer. Every legend of the game has their troubles. It can take just one innings to regain the form. With everything he's done and achieved, it's highly likely that fans won't remember the period of time when he couldn't score a century. He's definitely a hero to many Indian and abroad fans.