Kohli & Smith Have a Moment Followed by Social Media Explosion
Kohli plays a shot on Day 4 (Twitter/BCCI)
Indian batting legend Virat Kohli ended his three-year century drought in Tests by whacking 186 runs of the highest order against Australia. Resuming Day 4 at 59*, the cricketer batted cautiously and took his time before stepping up his scoring rate in the final two sessions of the day.
Kohli’s ton also marked his 28th triple-figure score in Tests, and his first since November 2019.
Notably, after he was dismissed by visiting spinner Todd Murphy, he was greeted by his Australian batting counterpart Steve Smith for reaching the milestone.
Smith congratulates Kohli after marathon knock
Up until a few years ago, Virat Kohli and Steve Smith, alongside England’s Joe Root and New Zealand’s Kane Williamson constituted the ‘Fab Four’ of modern-day Test cricket.
However, Kohli lost his touch in Tests, as evidenced by his century-less run in the format for more than three years. The remaining three batters also sustained a minor dip in their batting form at different stages, with each of them eventually regaining their lost touch with Test defining tons later.
The Indian batter has now become the final member of the elite group to recover his batting glory in the format, courtesy of his Ahmedabad epic.
When the former Indian captain was dismissed at 186 by Murphy, several Australian members went up to congratulate him. Australia’s interim skipper Smith also greeted the 34-year-old as the two were spotted sharing a laugh together.
Kohli’s 186 took India to 571, i.e., 91 runs ahead of Australia’s first innings effort. His innings marked his 75th century in international cricket across all formats, thus extending his gap from Ricky Ponting’s 71 centuries.
As of now, Sachin Tendulkar remains the only batter ahead of Kohli in terms of centuries, as the batting master had amassed 100 international tons across formats during his illustrious journey.
 "Aakash Saini")
