Playing his 500th international match, Virat Kohli headlined his 500th milestone appearance with a 76th hundred as India coasted to a healthy first innings score of 438. On Day 1, Kohli took his time and batted excellently under tricky conditions. The 34-year-old was 87 not out when stumps were called on Day 1. on Day 2, Kohli, who missed out on a hundred in the previous Test, made a polished 121 in 206 balls, his 29th in the longest format, getting on even keel with none other than the legendary Sir Donald Bradman. While analysing the match on Day 1, veteran wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik lauded Kohli for showing hunger, saying that he was playing his 500th game like it was his fifth game.
"We can all say about the lovely shots that Kohli played, the cover drives and the pulls. Here is a man playing his 500th match, but he played it like it was his fifth match. That hunger, on a pitch that probably really didn't aid stroke-making, he fought through it. We saw that in the first Test as well, and we are seeing it again now," Karthik said on Cricbuzz.
Karthik also hailed Kohli's mental toughness by highlighting India head coach Rahul Dravid's recent comments on the star batter.
"If you heard Rahul Dravid speak about him, the two things that he said were respect and his sacrifices. You can see that shining through in this innings yet again. Not at his fluent best, for sure, but he made it count. Just making sure that he stood there. Played those tough balls out. Just making sure that he is mentally there, and making it count for Team India," he added.
The first session of the second day undoubtedly belonged to Kohli, who was hardly troubled by any of the West Indies pacers, having taken 77 runs in singles, doubles and triples apart from the 11 boundaries in all.
Starting the day at 87, Kohli reached his century in the first half an hour while dispatching a Roach delivery wide of point with a stretched square drive. The wide grin while raising his bat and then taking a bow said it all.
The satisfaction of scoring his first overseas Test hundred in half a decade was palpable, having last scored a ton on foreign soil in Perth in 2018.
With PTI inputs