[Watch] How Virat Kohli Broke 3-Year-Long Jinx On Him With A Marvellous ODI Ton
Virat Kohli celebrates his 44th ODI ton (Twitter)
An absolute run-machine in his prime, Virat Kohli endured a rare lean patch at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. Dealing with self-admitted mental health issues amidst bio-security regulations and extensive cricket, the great lion seemed tamed by the opposition attacks.
The clearest sign of the Indian legend struggling was a dip in run-scoring even in his favourite and most prolific One-Day Internationals, where the 35-year-old underwent a shocking three-year drought of a century between February 2020 to November 2022.
The fans continued to worry about the slump and naysayers even predicted the modern-day maestro's doom at the international stage. What followed, however, was a phoenix-like rise from the ashes that has since seen Kohli returned to dominant ways as he recently produced his 50th century to surpass idol Sachin Tendulkar's tally and ended as the 'Player of the Tournament' at the 2023 World Cup.
The fantastic turnaround began in December last year when Kohli travelled to Bangladesh for the ODI series and after an initial pair of failures, relished a good batting surface in Chattogram to unveil a personally satisfying hundred against the hosts.
When Kohli Overcame ODI Century Drought
Walking in at his traditional spot No.3, Kohli overcame the painstaking century drought with a terrific innings of 113 off just 91 deliveries, including 11 fours and 2 sixes. Having initially bide his time to settle in and refind his best mojo, Kohli opened arms and blasted the opposition attack to all parts of the ground.
When the batter reached the three-figure mark, he only had a look of satisfaction and relief on his face, having faced the pressure and the weight of expectations while he underwent an extended dip in consistency and overall run-making before it.
For the first time in his career perhaps, a Kohli century was overshadowed by the knock at the other end as the match in Chattogram is remembered more for the epic double hundred struck by young wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan.
But Kohli would've had no issues with that as he could finally raise his bat for another ODI century after waiting for the past 32 months to reach his 44th hundred in the format.
 "Kashish Chadha")
