Virat Kohli failed to get off the mark in Indore and hence, was always due to find form at Eden Gardens. The Indian captain walked out to take guard under light on Day 1 and immediately looked a man who was switched on and raring to go. The balance was impeccable, the driving was perfect and he stamped his authority all over Bangladesh on Day 1.
He resumed his innings on Day 2 and in the afternoon session, made the most of the conditions on offer as he almost strolled to his 27th century on second day of second Test. In doing so, he became the first Indian to slam a Day-Night Test ton and also broke a number of records during the course of his 194-ball innings.
Kohli gets plaudits
Former England captain Michael Vaughan lauded Kohli and said that the Indian captain was the best batsman currently with all the three balls. Taking to Twitter, Vaughan stated that Kohli is the best modern-day batsman across formats and his social media post read: "Red Ball ... White Ball ... Now Pink Ball ... @imVkohli is the best Batsman across all formats in this era ... #100 #INDvBAN."
Kohli now has 20 centuries as skipper of Team India and he went past Ricky Ponting who had gone past the three-figure mark 19 times during the course of his illustrious career. Heading the list is former South Africa skipper Graeme Smith who has 25 centuries in Tests as captain of Proteas.
During the innings, Kohli also became the fastest captain to breach 5000 runs as a skipper - he went past the mark in just 86 innings and bettered Ponting's record by 11 innings as the former Australia captain went past the mark in 97 innings.
Despite the awesome turnout at Eden Gardens, Virat Kohli had said before the match that the pink ball Test match should not be a regular affair. "This can be a one-off thing. It should not, in my opinion, become a regular scenario," Kohli said one day before the historic pink ball Test.
"You can bring excitement into Test cricket but you can't purely make Test cricket based on just entertainment. The entertainment of Test cricket lies in a batsman trying to survive a session, a bowler trying to set up a batsman. If people don't want to respond to that, too bad. If I don't like Test cricket, you can't push me to like it. Those who enjoy the battle between bat and ball and great session of Test cricket, in my opinion, those are the people that should come and watch Test cricket because they understand what's going on," Kohli further added.
