Overtaking Ricky Ponting on the all-time list, Virat Kohli scored his 72nd international century in the third ODI against Bangladesh

Virat Kohli surpassed Ricky Ponting in the list of batters who have scored the most international centuries when he hit a magnificent century in the third one-day international match against Bangladesh on Saturday. The match took place at Chattogram.

This is Kohli’s 72nd century in international cricket, moving him over Sachin Tendulkar into second place on the all-time list of players with the most centuries.

This is his 44th century in One-Day Internationals (ODIs). At this point, Virat Kohli is only five centuries away from matching Sachin Tendulkar’s record of having scored the most tonnes in the fifty-over format (49).

Due to the significant amount of time that has passed between Kohli’s last century, this one is particularly meaningful to him. Kohli’s form suffered a significant setback earlier in the year, but he was able to bounce back in the Twenty20 format. He scored his first century in a Twenty20 international during the Asia Cup, and he finished as the player with the most runs in the ICC Twenty20 World Cup.

On the same day that opening batter Ishan Kishan blasted a combative 210 to give India a solid foundation, Kohli reached his century by smashing 11 boundaries and two sixes on his way there.

In the group of batters who have scored more than 50 hundreds in international competition, Virat Kohli is the only one to have a cumulative average of more than 50 across all three formats.

Even though Steve Smith of Australia has a batting average of above 50, he has only 41 tonnes to his record in international competition.

Given that it has been so long since Kohli’s last century, this one is extra noteworthy. The match against West Indies in August 2019 was the venue for his most recent century. In the time since, he has scored more than 50 runs on ten separate times, but he has never even reached the 90s.

There was a stretch in the middle of the game where he scored four consecutive half-centuries and six half-centuries in eight innings, but he was unable to reach the century mark during that time. Ricky Ponting