Virat Kohli hits first Test hundred since November 2019, kisses locket and receives applauds - WATCH

The moment that every Indian cricket fan was waiting for for the past three years came well and truly alive on Sunday in Ahmedabad as Virat Kohli completed his 28th Test hundred, his 75th overall in international cricket. In the process, he also equalled Sunil Gavaskar’s tally of scoring eight Test hundreds against Australia, only behind Sachin – who has 11 to his name.

It’s been more than three years since Virat last scored a Test hundred at the Eden Gardens against Bangladesh. Since November 2019, he did come close on a few occasions but could never cross the line. However, after 42 innings, he finally managed to have the monkey off his back much to everyone’s delight.

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After reaching the milestone, Kohli in a very non-Kohli manner celebrated his century without showing many emotions while he kissed his locket and slightly raised his bat to everyone’s appreciation inside the stadium. The commentators also went gaga over it as they celebrated Kohli’s much-awaited three-figure mark in this format.

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The Man. The Celebration.

Take a bow, @imVkohli 💯🫡#INDvAUS #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/QrL8qbj6s9 — BCCI (@BCCI) March 12, 2023

While this was his first hundred at the newly-built Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium, off 241 balls this was also among his slowest hundreds in Tests – after the Nagpur one against England in 2012 that came off 289 balls. This ton is also his 14th in India and 24th while batting at number four in Tests.

Meanwhile, the former India captain looked composed so far throughout his innings and didn’t give too many chances to the opposition to get him out. Coming to bat just around lunch time on day three after Pujara’s wicket, Kohli first accompanied another century-maker Shubman Gill and was then backed by Ravindra Jadeja and keeper-batter KS Bharat, who also played a handy knock of 44.

However, since crossing that mark, Kohli upped the ante and alongside Axar Patel started playing a bit more attacking cricket keeping one eye on finding the result of the game in their favour.

With the WTC final spot at stake, India need to win this Test and qualify directly else they have to rely on New Zealand to do the job for them.