Lone warrior Virat Kohli notches 54th ODI ton in third match vs New Zealand

Virat Kohli scored his 54th hundred in one-day internationals, reaching the three-digit mark in the third game between India and New Zealand in Indore. The veteran didn’t give up despite losing wickets from the other end in a chase of 338 runs to win the series. The Men in Blue were on the backfoot for most of the contest, and it was Kohli, who kept the hosts in the game, reaching his century in 91 balls, laced with 8 fours and 2 sixes.

India’s top-order crumbled under pressure, with Rohit Sharma (11) and captain Shubman Gill (23) failing to get going. Shreyas Iyer (3) and KL Rahul (1) registered failures in the series decider. It was Nitish Kumar Reddy, who added 53 runs to the total, hitting 2 fours and 2 sixes.

Virat, who has been in superb touch, once again showed his class. He hit his third ton in the last six innings, showing his readiness for the 2027 ODI World Cup. In the series opener, Kohli managed 93 runs and missed a certain hundred by 7 runs. The second ODI was not fruitful for the right-handed batter, but he returned to his best in the third game.

Since retiring from Test cricket, Virat has been unstoppable in this format of the game. He failed to open his account in the first two ODIs against Australia. In the third game in Sydney, he notched up a fifty-plus score and started South Africa’s series with a hundred. He amassed another century in the second contest and finished the assignment with a fifty, taking his runs tally to more than 300 runs. The veteran was named the Player of the Series for his effort.

He continued his form against the Kiwis, completing 28,000 runs in international cricket. Virat is the fastest to reach the milestone, and also became the second-highest run-getter in the overall list, going past Kumar Sangakkara.

In 311 ODIs, he has scored 14,776 runs at an average of 58.86 and a strike rate of 93.76. He has hit 77 half-centuries, 1374 fours and 167 sixes so far.

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