'I cried when I spoke to Anushka' - Virat Kohli recalls the moment when he scored his elusive 71st hundred

Star India batter Virat Kohli went through the worst phase of his career from 2020 to September 2022 as he was going through a century drought of over 1000 days. To come out of his dark phase, Kohli took one month break in July-August and came out as a better batter and brought up his elusive 71^st international hundred and finished as the second-highest run-getter of Asia Cup 2022.

Recently during an interview, Kohli recalled the moment when he ended his century drought and revealed his thoughts after achieving the landmark. He stated that the adrenaline rush of achieving the feat lasted only just seconds which made him laugh.

“The ball before I got to the 100, is the time I felt, oh I am on 94, I could probably get this. And the next ball went for six. But the thing is that as soon as I got the 100, I laughed so hard. I was like, 'main iske liye ro raha tha 2 saal se? (Was I cribbing about this for 2 years?),” Kohli said in an interview for Puma's ‘Let There Be Sport’ programme.

“Like just for this 2 seconds, I let myself go through that? That moment happened, it ended. Next day, the sun goes up again. It wasn't going to be forever. It's not like I scored this 100, and I live this moment for the rest of my life. It was so funny, I laughed so hard. I was like, this is all that it,” Kohli further said.

The former India captain was further asked if he had cried after achieving the landmark and he admitted that he did while speaking to his wife, Anushka Sharma.

“Not in that moment, but when I spoke to Anushka... (there were tears),” said Kohli.

Following his 71^st hundred, Kohli further finished as the highest run scorer of the T20 World Cup 2022 with 296 runs to his name. During the tournament, he also played the innings of his life scoring 82* off 53 balls vs Pakistan to help India register an improbable win.

It will be very emotional if I break Tendulkar's record: Virat Kohli

Ever since then, Kohli has continued his form in all three formats and has gone on to score four more international hundreds. He has surpassed Australian legend Ricky Ponting’s (71 hundreds) hundred tally and now has the second most international hundreds to his name i.e. 75.

Notably, Virat Kohli has 46 ODI hundreds to his name and is just three centuries away from equalling his idol Sachin Tendulkar’s tally of 49 hundred. Talking about the approaching milestone, the Delhi-born batter said that if he manages to break Tendulkar’s record it will be an emotional moment for him.

“It will be a very emotional moment for me,” Kohli concluded.