By now it is fairly clear that Virat Kohli is a once in a generation cricketer. His single-minded approach towards run making in all conditions and across all formats has catapulted him to the zenith of modern day batsmanship.
What Kohli might lack in technique and finesse, at times, in red ball cricket - he makes up for with oodles of grit and positive body language. This hunger to prove his detractors wrong and keep scoring for his team saw him conquer difficult conditions in South Africa, Australia and finally England.
While he continues to dominate all opposition, his stock as a Test batsman has also risen rapidly and he currently occupies the top spot in the ICC rankings for Test batsmen. One thing that good batsmen do, apart from standing up and delivering against tough opposition, is to never let slip a chance to amass easy runs. Kohli belongs to same mould and is a master of dolling out misery to mediocre bowling attacks.
He showed the same in the first Test against West Indies, as he raced away to his 24th Test century. That has brought him to the brink of a special record. When the Indian captain walks out to bat against Windies at Hyderabad, he will be on the cusp of becoming the second fastest batsman to score 25 Test centuries.
{{/usCountry}}He showed the same in the first Test against West Indies, as he raced away to his 24th Test century. That has brought him to the brink of a special record. When the Indian captain walks out to bat against Windies at Hyderabad, he will be on the cusp of becoming the second fastest batsman to score 25 Test centuries.
{{/usCountry}}The record for the fastest to 25 tons is in the name of Australian legend Don Bradman, who reached the landmark in a mind-numbing 68 innings. While Bradman remains a gold standard in terms of consistency in Test cricket, Kohli could well write his name above other top batsmen.
The second fastest batsman to post 25 Test tons currently is India’s ‘Little Master’ Sachin Tendulkar, who took 130 innings to reach the milestone. Closely following him is Sunil Gavaskar at 138 innings while burly Australian Matthew Hayden took 139 innings to reach the mark.
West Indian legend Sir Garfield Sobers (147), South African Hashim Amla (155) and Australia’s Ricky Ponting (156) are the other prominent batsmen on the list.
Kohli has so far played 123 innings and has 6 more innings to break his idol Tendulkar’s record. Among contemporary batsmen, only banned Australian cricketer Steven Smith could break Kohli’s record if he is to go one up on Tendulkar.
Quite a feat for Kohli, who almost got written off as a limited overs specialist in the early part of his Test career.