On this day in 2019: Virat Kohli scores his 70th, and most recent, international century

India’s first, and thus far only, pink-ball Test at home ended in a runaway victory for them against Bangladesh in 2019 and the chief protagonists of the win were fast bowler Ishant Sharma and captain Virat Kohli. While Ishant won the player of the match award for the nine wickets he took in the match, Kohli became just the third player to score 70 international centuries on the second day of the match on Day 2 of the match on November 23.

Incidentally, it was also the last time Kohli registered a three-digit score in international cricket. He scored 136 off 194 balls at the Eden Gardens before falling to Ebadat Hossain off a stunning catch by Taijul Islam. Kohli hit 18 fours in the innings, putting up partnerships of 94 runs and 99 runs with Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane respectively.

Only Ricky Ponting (71) and Sachin Tendulkar (100) have scored more international centuries than Kohli. Among active international cricketers, Australia’s David Warner is closest to Kohli in the list of most international centuries but well behind the Indian captain on 43. Kohli’s longtime team mate Rohit Sharma is the highest Indian century maker among active cricketers after the former, having scored 41 international centuries.

Kohli switched gears in the innings after crossing the three-digit mark, notably hitting Abu Jayed for four consecutive boundaries in the 71st over.

The 33-year-old has since come closest to scoring a century in a T20 International, a format in which he has never scored a ton, when he made an unbeaten 94 against the West Indies the very next month in Hyderabad. In ODIs, he scored 89 twice against Australia – in Bengaluru in January 2020 and in Sydney in November 2020 while in Tests, he scored 74 against Australia in India’s first innings of the Adelaide pink ball Test in December 2020.