Glimpses of Sachin Tendulkar seen in Virat Kohli, remembered the historic innings of 241 runs played in Sydney

Ahmedabad. Veteran Indian batsman Virat Kohli brought up his 28th century on Sunday, ending a drought of nearly 40 months, in a restrained innings on the fourth day of the fourth Test against Australia. In this innings, Kohli completed his century in 241 balls by taking one run against Nathan Lyon and hit only five fours till his century. This is his first Test century since November 2019.

He now has 75 centuries in international cricket across all formats. After completing the century, Kohli neither celebrated by jumping in his style nor punched his chest. After completing the century, there was a sense of relief on his face. He kissed his wedding ring, which he wears around his neck, after greeting the crowd by raising his bat and helmet after completing his century.

In these 40 months, Kohli’s bat remained dry and his Test average was close to 25. During this, his critics and fans were waiting for such an innings. Great players have the ability to overcome obstacles and on Sunday, Kohli overcame a major obstacle, showing the fighting spirit of a champion. It was not a confident Kohli who hit a brilliant straight six against Pakistan’s Haris Rauf in Melbourne during the T20 World Cup last year. In contrast to his aggressive batting, he wanted to touch the three-figure mark at any cost.

Kohli’s innings on Sunday mirrored that of legendary Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar’s double hundred in Sydney. In this innings, Tendulkar hit his favorite cover drive shot after completing 200 runs against the Australian bowlers led by Brett Lee. This innings of Kohli looked like this innings of Tendulkar in many ways. He also did not tease the balls outside the off stump. Even in difficult conditions for fast bowlers, he left Mitchell Starc and Cameron Green’s outside off stump to the wicketkeeper.

During this, he hit the fifth four of his innings on the 89th ball while the sixth four came on the 251st ball of his innings. Meanwhile, he did not hit any four till 162 balls (27 overs). Kohli did not hit a single boundary in the opening session of the fourth day. After being relieved of the burden of scoring a century, Kohli started playing fast and sent the ball across the boundary line at frequent intervals. Kohli played his first fluent cover drive when he was batting on 145.

He crossed the 150-run mark for the second consecutive four on a brilliant on-drive after hitting this four off Cameron Green. During this, Kohli also introduced his fitness by running fast and stealing runs with Akshar Patel. Motera Maidan has been witness to many glorious achievements. It was on this ground that the great Sunil Gavaskar crossed the 10,000-run mark in Tests and Kapil Dev took his 432nd wicket to set the then world record. This innings of Kohli will also be a part of this list.