Virat Kohli Scores 27th Test Century, Goes Past Ricky Ponting’s Tally As Captain

Virat Kohli brought up his 27th Test century and 70th overall on Day Two of the iconic day-night Test between India and Bangladesh in Kolkata on Saturday. Kohli moved from his overnight score of 59 to record another Test century and acknowledged a standing ovation from the Eden Gardens crowd. Kohli put on 99 runs with Ajinkya Rahane, who made 51, to pulverise Bangladesh, who were bowled out for 106 in what is also their first pink ball Test.

20th Test century as Captain of India ?

27th Test century of his career ?

70th International century ?

41st international century as captain (joint-most)?

1st Indian to hit a century in day/night Test ?#KingKohli pic.twitter.com/q01OKPauOu

— BCCI (@BCCI) November 23, 2019

With the hundred, Kohli went past former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting’s tally of 19 Test centuries as captain. The list is led by former South Africa captain Graeme Smith with 25 hundreds. Moreover, Kohli became the first Indian skipper to go past the 5000-run mark in the longest format of the game on Friday. 

Virat Kohli, the first Indian to score a hundred in day-night Tests, now has 41 hundreds in 188 innings across formats as captain. He is now at the top of the list alongside Ponting, who did so in 376 innings.

Kohli equalled Sachin Tendulkar to become the second-fastest (141 innings) to 27 Test centuries. The 31-year-old also became the fastest (439 innings) to 70 international hundreds. He is followed by Tendulkar who reached 70 tons in 505 innings followed by Ponting who took 649 innings.