For Virat Kohli, the West Indies had not been happy hunting ground, that is until Thursday. Breaking his jinx, the India captain scored his first century in the Caribbean in the first Test in Antigua.
Kohli reached three figures off 134 balls with 11 boundaries, also his second fastest Test century, as he steered India into a strong position at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua. This was also his 12 Test ton. Kohli ended Day 1 on 143*, with India on 302/4.
The India captain had already passed 3,000 Test runs earlier in his innings. Kohli came to the crease after Pujara's dismissal by Devendra Bishoo and assumed control of the innings. He didn't attack overtly, finding a nice balance with his defensive work and was quickly off the mark.
Kohli quickly moved past the 3000-run mark in Test cricket with his first boundary off Bishoo. The Indian skipper smacked another five boundaries to reach half-century run mark in 75 balls.
He and Shikhar Dhawan put on 105 for the third wicket at almost a run-a-minute before the opening batsman was adjudged lbw attempting a sweep at Bishool.
Kohli took another 59 balls to reach his century in 134 balls with flick behind square leg off Carlos Brathwaite post Tea.
His numbers against West Indies were unimpressive till now. In 2011, when Kohli last played in the West Indies, he had scores of 4, 15, 0, 27 and 30. He has an overall average of 27.88 against the Caribbeans and a poor 15.20 in the West Indies.
For a man who has scored 11 Test hundreds in 41 matches, Kohli didn't score a century against West Indies in six Tests until Thursday.