Kohli broke his silence on the century drought and responded to his critics in style a week after that magnificent ton, his 75th across formats.
The criticism peaked last month, during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series at home, when Virat Kohli failed to convert his start, with some even challenging his place in the Test XI. But, much as he did last September when he broke his international century drought to silence naysayers, Kohli did the same in Ahmedabad with a remarkable 186.
Kohli’s most recent Test century came at Eden Gardens in 2019 in the historic Pink Ball Test against Bangladesh, where he produced a match-winning 136. Kohli has subsequently played 41 innings in 1205 days, scoring five fifties, but the three-figure mark has escaped him. By March, a few fans and veterans had lost patience and were questioning Kohli’s place in the Indian Test team. On March 13, though, Kohli silenced them all with a stunning knock in the fourth Test against Australia.
“Therefore, when I got the hundred and converted it into a massive one, that gave me a sense of peace, relaxation, and enthusiasm again,” Kohli said on AB de Villiers’ YouTube channel.
“You get comfortable with your game and your thinking, and your heart doesn’t race until the next practice session.” You eventually want to be in such an environment. And that specific hundred restored my sense of grounding. Only from a cricketing standpoint. I was generally content and at ease in my life. “But, when you’re playing, you want to be in that place as much as possible,” he continued.
Kohli then discussed his enthusiasm for the red-ball format and why he wasn’t pleased with even half-centuries during his century slump.
“I’ve known AB for a while, and he knows how much I respect Test cricket.” Even though I had performed well in T20Is and achieved ODI centuries, I always thought that white-ball cricket was more of a game where if you go in with the correct frame of mind on a certain day or for a certain amount of time, you can overcome the obstacles.
