Playing through sickness with this composure: Anushka Sharma lauds Virat Kohli’s century

Resuming his innings at 59 off 128 on Sunday, Kohli took his time to score the remaining 41 runs. Off 241 deliveries, only scoring five fours in what was a gritty knock in the first innings.

The last hundred Kohli scored was against Bangladesh in the pink ball Test at the Eden Gardens in November 2019. While the former India skipper had scored his maiden T20I hundred last year in the Asia Cup and three more in the ODIs over the last three months, his scores in the longest format had been a cause of worry for the Indian team.

With the hosts having lost Ravindra Jadeja early in the first session on Sunday, Kohli stitched together 84-runs for the fifth wicket alongside KS Bharat (44 off 88) to put India closer to Australia’s 480 in the first innings.

The 34-year-old, who notched his fifty on day three, had come in to bat when Australia broke the 113-run partnership between Shubman Gill and Cheteshwar Pujara and was at the non-striker’s end when Gill got to his century at Motera.

Kohli would ultimately score 186, falling just short of a double ton as India ended their first innings at 571 in the fourth and final Test against Australia.

At stumps on the fourth day, Australia were three for no loss in their second essay with Matthew Kuhnemann (0 batting) and Travis Head (3 batting) seeing through their six overs in the final session. Australia are behind by 88 runs.