Why Virat Kohli can score ODI centuries in his sleep – let alone BCCI’s demand for preparation and domestic cricket

Virat Kohli, following an initial struggle in Australia, has returned to form with an unbeaten half-century and consecutive centuries in ODIs.

Some six weeks back, when he registered his second consecutive blob in Australia, we were among the many who wondered how long a rope Virat Kohli would get. Not how much he should get – are we crazy? – or how much he deserved, but how much he would be given by a decision-making group determined, if not desperate, to distance itself from the glorious past.

India's Virat Kohli celebrates after scoring a century (100 runs) during the second one-day international (ODI) against South Africa.(AFP)

Those two games, in Perth and Adelaide in October, were the maestro’s first international outings since his retirement from Test cricket in May, rendering him just a one-format player at the highest level, like Rohit Sharma. Before the first of those One-Day Internationals on October 19, Kohli’s last competitive fixture was the final of IPL 2025, on June 3. He hadn’t played for the country since March 9, when he made 1 in the Champions Trophy final against New Zealand in Dubai. Clearly, the rust showed.

In the four and a half months between the IPL title clash and the Perth fixture, Kohli hadn’t allowed grass to grow under his feet. He worked on his fitness, like he always does, and he spruced up his batting at Lord’s. But even the very best can’t get by with nets alone. They need to encounter high-quality bowling in a competitive setting to return to match-mode.

Better off for those two zeroes, if that makes sense, Kohli is now back doing what he does best – ticking off milestones, gobbling up bowlers for breakfast, treating the 50-over stage like the lord and master of it that he has been for so long. Since the second of those noughts in Adelaide, Kohli’s scores are 74 not out, 135 and 102. In the first two instances, he shared century stands with Rohit; on Wednesday in Raipur, his partner in crime during a third-wicket alliance of 195 was Ruturaj Gaikwad, who brought up his maiden ODI hundred. Talk about generational shifts.

Somewhere between Sydney, when he smashed that unbeaten 74 in a consolation victory, and London, to where he flew after the ODI showdown Down Under, Kohli chucked the imaginary rope into the vast expanse of water below him. Rope? I don’t need any rope, he might have thundered. After centuries No. 52 and 53 respectively in the space of four evenings, the rope is history.

There was a time when ODI tons from Kohli were on par with taxes as the only constants in a fickle, ever-changing world. Why, even two years back at the 50-over World Cup, he amassed three in four weeks, in the process breezing past Sachin Tendulkar’s long-standing mark of 49 centuries and then becoming the first to get to 50 50-over hundreds. Now, he has left another Tendulkar record behind – the little big man had the most international hundreds in a single format (51 in Tests) until Sunday. That privilege is now Kohli’s – 53 and counting in ODIs.

In Ranchi on Sunday and in Raipur four days thereafter, Kohli has been the compelling force of yore. He has made time slow down to a crawl, if not stand still. There have been flashes of unalloyed aggression, as seven sixes in game one will confirm, but for the large part, these have been quintessential Kohli compilations, marked by exceptional placement and outstanding running between the wickets. On Wednesday, Kohli reached three-figures in 90 deliveries, suggesting a boundary-fest. In reality, he hit only seven fours and two sixes; 60% of his first 100 runs came through putting in the hard yards, through putting South Africa’s normally unflappable fielders under immense pressure, through making the most of the vast outfield that tested stamina and fitness and agility and concentration.

All these traits were second nature to Kohli for five years between 2014 and 2019, when runs flowed in all formats in a torrent and he assumed the hue of a batting machine blessed with emotion and passion and relatability and grace and style. Then, as happens given the cyclical nature of sport, he went more than 1,000 days with an international hundred. Did that happen, you wonder. Looking at him now, a fresh, fit and fired-up 37-year-old, you ask yourself again – did that really happen?

Kohli has one more game left in this series, in Visakhapatnam on Saturday, before he returns to domestic cricket for the second time this year alone. His participation in the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy, beginning in three weeks’ time, has been confirmed, and his Delhi colleagues will be as richer for it as the tournament itself. The competition will also allow the former skipper to stay match-ready for the three-match ODI series at home against New Zealand in mid-January, a win-win for all concerned.

As for the rope, well… It’s where it truly belongs, somewhere in the deep recesses of the Mediterranean Sea or the Atlantic Ocean. Virat Kohli doesn’t need no rope; throw him a challenge, and that should do quite nicely.