Twitter went into overdrive as India talisman Virat Kohli broke a series of records en route to his 28th Test century against Australia on Day 4 of the fourth Test in Ahmedabad on Sunday.

It was Virat Kohli's first Test hundred since November 2019, thus ending a 1,204 days wait for a century in the five-day format of the sport.

Moreover, it was his first century in red-ball cricket after 41 innings – his longest drought in Test matches. During this phase, Virat Kohli went without a ton in 23 games.

It was also his second Test hundred against Australia at home, following his 107 in Chennai in 2013.

Throughout his knock, Virat Kohli looked in complete command – at the start of his innings, the 34-year-old was solid in defense and milked the Australian bowlers for ones and twos.

Virat Kohli, the aggressive shotmaker, turned into a grinder as the Delhi-born cricketer struck only five boundaries during his first hundred runs at the Narendra Modi Stadium.

After bringing up his 75th century in Gujarat during the weekend, he raised the level of his game and was looking good for a double-hundred. But Kohli lost his wicket while attempting an attacking shot off Todd Murphy.

Virat Kohli was the last Indian batter to get out for a score of 186, with the hosts putting 571/9 on the board. Shreyas Iyer didn't bat in India's first innings due to back spasms and underwent scans in the hospital.

Among the multiple feats Virat Kohli achieved in Ahmedabad was becoming the quickest to complete 11,000 international runs at home.

Virat Kohli also matched former India captain Sunil Gavaskar's landmark the legendary batsman achieved four decades ago.

Virat Kohli was playing in his 50th Test on home soil, and he celebrated the occasion with a hundred. In 1983, Sunil Gavaskar made a century when he featured in his 50th Test match in Indian conditions against West Indies at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in Delhi.

The ton against Australia in Ahmedabad was his 8th hundred in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, joint-second most by any batter from the two countries. While Sachin Tendulkar has nine centuries, Ricky Ponting and Steve Smith have scored eight centuries each.

 

Virat Kohli's splendid knock earned him rave reviews from many cricket pundits, including Parthiv Patel, Dinesh Karthik, and Harbhajan Singh.

“Kohli's body language is like he is batting in the nets. He is hitting the ball where he wants. He only hit five boundaries while getting to his hundred, scoring all the other runs through singles and doubles,” Parthiv Patel said on Cricbuzz.

“He knows that Nathan Lyon is attacking the off-stump line and he is not playing any strokes on that line, and playing the left-armer with the spin. If anyone wants to see how to play spin then Kohli's innings is the perfect template,” Parthiv Patel added.

“He has been playing out such innings since a very long time. This isn’t the first time that we're seeing Kohli play the way he is. A player becomes great when they have performed at the highest level for a long period of time. We know the range of shots that Kohli has and how he can absorb the pressure and play even if it is for a draw,” the former India wicketkeeper stated.

“I'm not surprised at all by how Kohli has batted in this series. Today he has made runs but he has looked in control throughout the series against Australia,” Parthiv Patel elaborated.

Dinesh Karthik was equally effusive in his praise of Virat Kohli as he lauded his temperament and how he paced his knock.

“His 8th hundred against Australia. He has got it against the best and he has been consistent at that. You go through ebbs and flows when you score a hundred. This one has come slowly to him. It tested his patience, but he definitely battled all the demons, not on the pitch, but in the mind,” Dinesh Karthik said on air.

“What's been amazing about this knock today is he has batted close to 2 and half hours and not got one boundary yet. He has weathered the storm and done it in his way. And it's been beautiful to watch. It's been a long-time coming,” Dinesh Karthik added.

Former India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh said that Virat Kohli must be relieved to get the monkey off his back. He pointed out that Virat Kohli's return to form augurs well for India if they qualified it to the World Test Championship final in England.

“He (Kohli) must be very relieved with his hundred and so are all his fans. I wanted him to score runs and all the other batters as well. I wanted to see if they could play on better wickets where they also have their chance to score those runs and I'm so glad they actually got the wicket where they had the chance to score runs,” Harbhajan Singh told India Today.

“Virat Kohli being Virat Kohli. He needed this kind of a knock to get back into the rhythm and the kind of rhythm India would need him to be going forward. I hope from here onwards we see the upward for Virat Kohli and he will continue to be the vintage Virat Kohli for all of us and score many many runs for team India,” Harbhajan Singh opined.

Meanwhile, Australia wicketkeeper Alex Carey labeled the premier India batter a “world-class” player, and Kohli was in full flight in Motera.

“No surprise he got it in a decent batting track and went big and showed how to do it really,” Alex Carey said after the close of play on Day 4 in Ahmedabad.

“He's a class player and he didn't really give us a chance. We knew it was going to be tough bowling to Virat. We were able to contain him as much as we could and try to take wickets around him. Anytime you come to India and Virat's next in or batting, you know it's going to be noisy and he played really well today. But I thought we hung in really well,” Alex Carey concluded.