Still hungry to make a splash

Virat Kohli's highest scores in Test cricket read 116, 107, 103 and 103. The 24-year-old may have established himself as a pillar of a team in transition and gave another example of his talent on Sunday. MVL Manikantan reports.

Virat Kohli's highest scores in Test cricket read 116, 107, 103 and 103. The 24-year-old may have established himself as a pillar of a team in transition and gave another example of his talent on Sunday. But despite many promising starts in his 25 innings since debut in 2011, he is yet to convert them into really big scores.

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Virat's innings was invaluable as he and Sachin Tendulkar revived the innings. He then supported skipper MS Dhoni's stunning counterattack.

Mental Block
However, Virat fell soon after scoring a century in his second successive Test, as well as two in a row against Australia. The batsman admitted he seemed to get stuck when it came to playing a longer innings in Tests. "I was really disappointed at getting out," he said. "When you get a hundred you want to make it big, but there is a block I am facing right now," he said.

He was frustrated not to have cashed in, but didn't want to mull over it. "I want to get over that, get big runs and get that feel of getting a big century in Test cricket as well. As a batsman you want to score big, especially when you have scored a century in a tough situation. You don't want to throw it away."