India's star batter Virat Kohli scored his first Test century of 2024. Kohli reached his century from 143 balls in the third session of Day 3 of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 opener at Optus Stadium, Perth. This was Kohli's seventh Test century on Australian soil. He reached the three figures with a boundary off Marnus Labuschagne. He broke Sachin Tendulkar's record for most Test centuries by an Indian batter in Australia.
The 36-year-old also equalled former England batter Wally Hammond's tally of Test centuries in Australia. Now, he is only behind England's Jack Hobbs who has nine Test centuries from 24 Tests in Australia.
Kohli also equalled Sunil Gavaskar's tally of most Test centuries by an Indian batter in an away country. Gavaskar has seven Test centuries on West Indies soil. He surpassed Rahul Dravid and Tendulkar who have six Test centuries each against England and Australia respectively.
Second in Perth for Kohli
Meanwhile, Kohli became the only visiting batter to score two Test centuries at the venue. His last Test century at Optus Stadium came in 2018 when he scored 123 runs as captain in a losing cause. Yashasvi Jaiswal and West Indies' Kraigg Brathwaite are two other batters with Test centuries at the venue.
Kohli dedicates century to wife Anushka
"Anushka has been right by my side through thick and thin. She knows everything that goes on behind the scenes. Knows what goes on in the head when you're not performing well. I'm not a guy who hangs around for the sake of it. I take pride in performing for the country," Kohli told Adam Gilchrist after Jasprit Bumrah declared.
Kohli remainde unbeaten for 100. His knock was studded with eight fours and a couple of sixes. Yashasvi Jaiswal's 161, KL Rahul's 77-run knock, Kohli's unbeaten 100 and Nitish Reddy's 27-ball 38 cameo helped the visitors set a daunting target of 534 on the board. India posted 487/6 in their second innings from 134.3 overs.
