Former India captain Virat Kohli scored his 28th Test ton, which came against Australia in the recent encounter in Ahmedabad, which was also his first century in the format since November 2019, when he had made the triple figures against Bangladesh in Kolkata.
Kohli had not made a century since that Kolkata ton in international cricket for over three years and only broke the voodoo when he scored his maiden T20I century against Afghanistan in the Asia cup 2022. He then had an excellent T20 World Cup where he ended up as the highest run-getter.
He also broke the barren run of centuries in ODIs, scoring his first since 2019 against Bangladesh in December 2022, and followed it up with a couple more at home in 2023.
Virat Kohli said his 28th Test hundred has helped him regain a sense of calmness and made him feel more grounded with regard to his game, adding that it has helped him be less desperate when he goes out to train every morning.
“So, when I made the hundred and converted it into a big one, that gave me a sense of calmness, relaxation, and excitement again. You kind of become comfortable with your game, and your thinking, and your heart is not rising before the next practice session. You eventually want to be in such a space. And that particular hundred gave me a grounded feeling back. Just from a cricketing perspective. In life, I was pretty happy and relaxed. But when playing also, you want to be in that space as much as possible,” Kohli said in a chat with AB de Villiers on the latter’s YouTube show.
Virat Kohli made a brilliant 186, his highest score against Australia in Tests in the match which ended in a draw.
“I Was Getting Decent Scores, But I Was Unhappy”- Virat Kohli During His Barren Run Of Form
Kohli elaborated on how the feeling of getting a big score in Test cricket is unmatched for him and how he had gotten back a sense of fulfillment after he chipped in with a hundred in the Ahmedabad Test.
While his century drought was making headlines, Kohli had gone without a fifty-plus score in his last 15 innings in Tests before he scored 186 against Australia.
“I and AB have been in touch for a while. he knows how much I value Test cricket. Even though, I had performed in T20Is again and scored ODI centuries and all that stuff, I always felt that white-ball cricket, for me, was more of a thing where if you go in with the right frame of mind on a particular day or for a certain period of time, you can get past the hurdles.
But even though we played the Test on a wicket that is not offering too much to the bowlers, you still have to bat for good 7-8 hours sometimes, because they (Australia) are that patient with their fields and they could go defensive. It was just testing me constantly. That is something that I have always cherished as a cricketer,” Kohli said.
“I was getting decent scores, but if you ask me if I was happy with what I was doing. I wasn’t. I pride myself in performing for the team to the best of my ability, I certainly wasn’t doing that enough. I wanted to score big runs, that’s something that always propelled me, whether it was at home or away. I was doing that to a certain extent. But I was not having the same kind of impact that I had before,” he added.
Virat Kohli will be in action in the 3rd and final ODI against Australia in Chennai and then will turn out for RCB in the IPL 2023.