Former India skipper Virat Kohli returned to action in style, smashing an 87-ball 113 to guide the team to an imposing 373/7 in the first ODI against Sri Lanka, in Guwahati today.
The 34-year-old, who was rested for the T20I series, ended his ODI century drought - it lasted 1,214 days - during India's tour of Bangladesh. He eclipsed batting legend Ricky Ponting then.
On Tuesday, Kohli broke multiple records. He equalled Sachin Tendulkar's monumental feat of most number of centuries (20) in ODI cricket at home. And he took only 102 matches to reach the milestone, while Tendulkar took 164 matches.
He also became the fastest batter to smash 45 ODI hundreds, taking 257 innings.
Kohli needs only 67 more runs to enter the top 5 of the all-time run-getters in ODIs. He is only behind Tendulkar, Kumar Sangakkara, Ricky Ponting, Sanath Jayasuriya and Mahela Jayawardene in the elite list.
Kohli also surpassed Tendulkar in most number of centuries scored against Sri Lanka in ODIs – he now has nine. Tendulkar scored 3,113 runs against Sri Lanka in 84 ODIs. Kohli has amassed 2,333 runs against the 1996 World Cup winners in 48 ODI matches so far.
With today's century, Kohli also equalled his and Tendulkar's record for most ODI centuries against one team – they sit jointly at the top of the list with nine centuries against the West Indies and Australia respectively.
