On the day 2 of the first Test between India and England, when Team India’s wickets were falling on regular intervals, on the other side Virat Kohli was smashing the England bowlers. During this time, he not only saved Indian team from humiliation but also made his 22nd century of Test career and 15th as a skipper
Skipper with 15 or More Test Hundreds:
| Player | 100s | Tests | Runs | Avg |
| G Smith (SA) | 25 | 109 | 8659 | 47.83 |
| R Ponting (AUS) | 19 | 77 | 6542 | 51.51 |
| V Kohli (IND) | 15 | 36 | 3605 | 66.75 |
| A Border (AUS) | 15 | 93 | 6623 | 50.94 |
| S Smith (AUS) | 15 | 34 | 3659 | 70.36 |
| S Waugh (AUS) | 15 | 57 | 3714 | 52.3 |
This is Virat Kohli’s fourth hundred against England and the first century in England. Kohli scored 14 boundaries in his century. The importance of Kohli’s innings can be judged by the fact that no other Indian batsman except him could have scored more than 26 runs.
However, the Indian skipper who came in to bat at number four also lived two dropped chances. Making most of those chances he made the English bowlers pay and in the context of this series, his knock is invaluable. Kohli was ultimately dismissed for 149 but that was not before he had taken India’s scoreboard to 274, 13 runs short of England.
Before making a century against England, he made another record in his own name. Against England team, he also completed one thousand runs in Test cricket. When Virat Kohli completed his 23rd run on Stokes’s ball he touched the figure of 1000 Test runs. Virat Kohli achieved this feat in the 15th Test against England at an average of 45.
Along with this, Virat Kohli scored 22nd century in his 113th innings, before him only 3 players had scored 22 hundred in less innings than Kohli. At first number, Australia’s great batsman Don Bradman has scored 22 centuries in only 58 innings, Sunil Gavaskar 101 innings and Steve Smith 108 innings. Virat Kohli left behind Sachin Tendulkar, Sachin had scored 22 hundreds in 114 innings.
Earlier, Virat’s record in England was extremely poor. In the year 2014 when he went on a tour of England, only 134 runs were scored in the 5 Tests with a meagre average of 13.40. This time he surpassed that total in just 1 innings.
Prior to this test, Virat has scored 5575 runs in 67 matches in his international career and has 21 centuries and 16 half-centuries in his name.
