India batted first, lost the openers quickly and the Australian bowlers were on top. The stage was set for a Virat Kohli-special and the captain did not disappoint.
Taking his time early on, the captain played the perfect ODI innings and in the process, slammed his 40th century in ODI cricket. He was involved in a superb partnership with Vijay Shankar, but never lost control of the innings at all point. And as is the case with any Kohli innings, a plethora of records were broken along the way:
He now has scored his 18th ODI century as a skipper and is behind only Ricky Ponting who has 22 centuries to his name. He also breached 9000 international runs as a skipper and is the sixth captain to achieve the feat after Ricky Ponting, Graeme Smith, Stephen Fleming, MS Dhoni and Allan Border.
However, he became the fastest to score 9000 international runs as captain in this match. Not only this, he became the fastest to score 4000, 5000, 6000, 7000 and 8000 international runs as captain as well.
The Indian captain, who hit 10 fours in his innings, recorded 1000 fours in ODIs. In the process, he became the 12th cricketer to achieve this feat and the fourth Indian after Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly.
Such has been the dominance of Kohli on home soil that he has converted each of his last 6 ODI fifties to centuries:
121 vs NZ, Mumbai, 2017
113 vs NZ, Kanpur, 2017
140 vs WIN, Guwahati, 2018
157* vs WIN, Vizag, 2018
107 vs WIN, Pune, 2018
103* vs AUS, Today,2019
Twitter went all bonkers after the innings:
Virat Kohli's centuries need to be redistributed for equitable development
— Rahul Roushan (@rahulroushan) March 5, 2019
Virat Kohli moving towards maximum international hundreds... #IndvsAus pic.twitter.com/Jx0TePb3bF
— The-Lying-Lama (@KyaUkhaadLega) March 5, 2019
Congrats to Virat Kohli for 40th century. Remember, he was born during Congress rule - Salman Khurseed
— Keh Ke Peheno (@coolfunnytshirt) March 5, 2019
After 224 ODIs -
— Peter Miller (@TheCricketGeek) March 5, 2019
Sachin Tendulkar - 8350 runs, ave 42.6, SR 86.45, 23 hundreds, 44 fifties
Virat Kohli - 10686* runs, ave 60.03, SR 92.61, 40 hundreds, 49 fifties.
It isn't even close for the best ODI batsman ever any more. Kohli wins hands down.
Take a bow #KingKohli ??#INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/x5vvfXhA1d
— BCCI (@BCCI) March 5, 2019
Number 40 for the King, what a champion.
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) March 5, 2019
A great innings on this surface by Kohli. #IndvAus pic.twitter.com/GPH9o4uuA0
You had a feeling that the 50th ODI fifty wouldn’t last long! Kudos to @imVkohli for his 40th hundred. Not the easiest surface hence more credit #INDvAUS
— Gautam Bhimani (@gbhimani) March 5, 2019
