Kohli Aims to Break Ricky Ponting's World Record

After five years, Test cricket returns to the Wankhede Stadium, coinciding with Virat Kohli’s return to the Indian team. Indian team captain Virat Kohli sat out three Twenty20 Internationals and the Kanpur Test due to injury, and the charismatic batter returns to the Test setup amid reports of rain spoiling the Mumbai Test, and India would like the weather to stay clear so India can beat New Zealand and win the series.

However, the Mumbai Test could be an ideal opportunity for Kohli to regain his form, given his excellent record at the Wankhede Stadium. With an average of 72.16, Kohli has scored 433 runs in six innings in Mumbai, including three fifties and one century. Kohli scored 235 runs against England in 2016 when India played at this venue.

Kohli will be eager to cross some items off his list upon his return. Most importantly, he wants to end the century drought. Kohli hasn’t scored a century in an international match for 56 innings across all formats. Since December of 2020, he has averaged less than 30 in Test matches and his last century came against Bangladesh in a Day/Night Test.

If Kohli could end his century drought, he would be making history. Kohli is tied with Ricky Ponting for the most international centuries by a captain with 70 centuries across formats, and if he manages to hit a century, it will be his 42nd, which would be the most by a captain in international cricket. The association between Kohli and Ponting is not the only coincidence. Kohli has nine centuries, one short of Ponting’s record for most centuries by a Test captain at home. Whether Kohli reaches the century will be interesting to see!