Kohli Slams Century, Equals Bradman, Surpasses Tendulkar

PORT OF SPAIN, (IANS) – Star India batter Virat Kohli on July 21 slammed his 29th Test century to end his five-year drought for a hundred in an overseas red-ball match, in his 500th international appearance on Day 2 of the second Test against West Indies at the Queen’s Park Oval, here.

Resuming the innings on 87 on day two, Kohli gracefully notched his 29th Test century by hitting a boundary off Shannon Gabriel.

Kohli’s flawless hundred put his tally of Test hundreds on par with Sir Donald Bradman, who had scored 29 centuries in 52 Tests.

Also, Kohli now has the most number of international tons in 500 matches, surpassing Sachin Tendulkar, who scored 75 international tons in his first 500 international matches.

The 34-year-old was in pristine touch in the opening Test too, but fell for 76 then, missing out on a deserved milestone. Here, he carried from where he left off, playing some crunching drives and flicks to make a fine hundred.

After making four away hundreds in 2018 when India was on tour in Australia, Kohli had to wait quite a while and this century is his first outside India in Tests since then. His last overseas Test ton came in Perth in 2018.

It is his second century in the Caribbean Islands with his first converted into a double hundred back in 2016 in North Sound.

With 29 Test tons to his name, Kohli also went past Kane Williamson’s tally of 28 hundred and has the third-most Test hundreds among active cricketers after Steve Smith (32) and Joe Root (30).

India is 1-0 ahead in the Test series and after being put into bat in the second Test, are on their way to putting on a massive total.