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The cricketing fraternity took to social media after star Indian batter Virat Kohli ended his Test century drought started on November 2019 to score his 75th international ton and 28th century in the longer format on Sunday.
Legendary Indian opener Virender Sehwag, with whom Sachin Tendulkar opened the batting for years, congratulated Virat, saying that "class is permanent". https://twitter.com/virendersehwag/status/1634831686738534407 Indian pace legend Jhulan Goswami also congratulated Virat for his "iconic innings". https://twitter.com/JhulanG10/status/1634835587084746753 Former Indian pacer Venkatesh Prasad also lauded this "special innings from a special player" and called his comeback to form an "inspiration". https://twitter.com/venkateshprasad/status/1634837300831207432 Australian veteran opener also lauded Virat's innings on Instagram, warning to not " write off champions". https://www.instagram.com/p/Cpr8XXxrB-2/?hl=en Former England batter Kevin Pietersen also lauded Virat for his knock on Twitter. https://twitter.com/KP24/status/1634841986317553664 Former South African batter Herschelle Gibbs also congratulated Virat on his century. https://twitter.com/hershybru/status/1634835395178545152 Pakistan's former wicketkeeper-batter also lauded Virat's ton, saying that "a long wait is finally over." https://twitter.com/KamiAkmal23/status/1634825025839611904 With this century, Virat has finally hit centuries in all three formats after not being able to hit an international ton from November 2019 till September 8, 2022. On September 8, 2022, during the Asia Cup 2022 match against Afghanistan, Virat ended his century drought of 1,021 days in international cricket as well. He had smashed 122* off 61 balls. His last international ton before that had come in November 2019, in a Test match against Bangladesh. He followed it by breaking his ODI century drought on December 10 2022 during 3rd ODI against Bangladesh. He scored 113 in 91 balls to end his ODI ton drought of 1,116 days. Before it, his last ODI ton was against West Indies in August 2019. The first half of 2022 was filled with struggle for Virat as he could score only 476 runs in 16 matches across 19 innings at an average of 25.05, with just four half-centuries. But since Asia Cup, he seems to have rediscovered the touch that made him one of the most feared players in the sport. In 31 matches and 35 innings, he has scored 1,507 runs at an average of 55.81. He has scored five centuries and seven fifties since Asia Cup. His best individual score is 186 since the Asia Cup. He emerged as a second highest run scorer in Asia Cup (276 runs) and the leading run-scorer in ICC T20 World Cup 2022 (296 runs) Coming to the match against Australia, a marathon innings effort from star batter Virat and his 162-run partnership with Axar Patel helped India end the fourth day of the fourth and final Test against Australia with a lead of 88 runs in Ahmedabad on Sunday. At the end of the final session on day 4, Australia was at 3/0, with Matt Kuhnemann (0*) and Travis Head (3*) unbeaten on the crease. Australia trail by 88 runs. India was bundled out for 571 in their first innings. Virat Kohli brought an end to his century drought in Test cricket, scoring his 75th international century and his 28th in Tests. This was his first century in Tests since November 2019. In his marathon effort, he scored 186 runs in 364 balls, consisting of 15 fours. Shubman Gill also scored a century, smashing 128 runs in 235 balls. Axar (79), KS Bharat (44) and Cheteshwar Pujara (42) also played some important knocks, which helped India gain a 91-run lead over Australia. Todd Murphy (3/113) and Nathan Lyon (3/151) were the pick of the bowlers for Australia. Mitchell Starc and Matt Kuhnemann got a wicket each. lead over Australia. In their first innings, Australia posted 480 runs. Usman Khawaja (180) and Cameron Green (114) posted stunning centuries to help the Aussies gain a massive advantage earlier in the match. Ravichandran Ashwin was the pick of the bowlers, taking 6/91 on a surface offering no help to spinners. Brief Scores: India: 571 (Virat Kohli 186, Shubman Gill 128, Todd Murphy 3/113) vs Australia: 480 and 3/0 (Travis Head 3*, Matt Kuhnemann 0*). (ANI)
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