King Kohli proved why he is king Kohli
“Rohit Sharma wanted to declare, but Rahul Dravid told him to wait until Virat Kohli finished his 200 runs” said Axar Patel.
Virat Kohli got to 100 runs in 41 innings, which is more than three years. On Sunday, day four of the fourth test, this put India ahead of Australia.
Kohli got 186 runs, which was his 28th test hundred and his best test score against Australia. India finished its first innings with 571 runs in 178.5 overs, which was 91 runs more than Australia’s 480 runs in its first innings.
At the end of Australia’s second innings, Matthew Kuhnemann and Travis Head (3 not out) had made it through six overs. Australia was behind by 88 runs and was 3-0.
Usman Khawaja didn’t open the second innings because he might have hurt his knee while fielding. Kuhnemann was a surprising choice to replace him. In the penultimate over, Srikar Bharat had a great chance to catch the night-watchman, but he dropped the ball.
Kohli’s last hundred in a test match was in November 2019 against Bangladesh.
Kohli got to his 75th international hundred after lunch. It took him 241 balls, with five fours, to get there. Before he hit a boundary, he had faced 162 balls. Once he hit that mark, he started playing more aggressive strokes. He hit 15 fours in all.
It was Kohli’s 16th international hundred against Australia. In terms of balls faced, it was his second slowest test hundred.
India was 472-5 when tea was served, and Kohli and Patel had put on 162 runs with the sixth wicket. The two batted for 37.1 overs as they tried to catch up to Australia.
Kohli picked up the slack and got to 150 in 313 balls, hitting seven more fours after he reached his hundred.
Patel was finally bowled by Mitchell Starc (1-97) in the 173rd over, and the Indian lower order had a small collapse after that.
Ravichandran Ashwin when at 7, hit a ball from Lyon to midwicket, and Umesh Yadav was run out without adding to the score.
Kohli was the last person out. He was caught in the deep by Todd Murphy (3-113), and Shreyas Iyer didn’t come out to bat because he was having trouble with his lower back. He is said to have gone to a nearby hospital for scans, and the Indian medical team is keeping an eye on him.
Lyon finished with 3-151 in 65 overs, which is the most he has ever bowled in one test innings for Australia.