Virat Kohli continues to hurt Sri Lanka, hits 19th century in Nagpur Test

Virat Kohli slammed his second consecutive century of the series and 19th overall as India strengthened their lead in Nagpur Test vs Sri Lanka.

Continuing his dream run, Virat Kohli completed back to back centuries against Sri Lanka. At the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium on Sunday, Kohli duly reached the three-figure mark off 130 balls after starting the day on 54. The innings was studded with 10 fours. (India vs Sri Lanka 2nd Test Highlights)

Virat Kohli celebrates after scoring a century on Day 3 of the second Test match between India and Sri Lanka at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur.(AP)

It was Virat’s 19th Test hundred and 51st international century.

In the opening Test, Virat had hit an unbeaten 104 in the second innings at the Eden Gardens. (India vs Sri Lanka 2nd Test Scores)

The hundred in the first innings of the second Test has helped India consolidate on the solid platform laid by the second wicket pair of Cheteshwar Pujara and Murali Vijay.

While Pujara and Vijay helped India overhaul Sri Lanka’s total, the onus was on Kohli to up the run-rate and put pressure on Sri Lanka. Apart from unleashing his sweetly timed boundaries, the feature of Kohli’s knock was how he put the fielders under pressure with his running between the wickets.

He was at the bowlers’ throats from ball one, as he came and straightaway upped the tempo. For dominant teams nowadays the benchmark is to score at around 3.5 to 4 runs per over on good batting surfaces and that task was taken up by Kohli. In his 150-run partnership with Pujara, Kohli had contributed 98 and Pujara 54.