Virat Kohli hits 41st ODI hundred; Michael Vaughan salutes the GOAT

Kohli scored 123 and raised his second hundred in the ongoing series, however, couldn't help the team win the game.

Published - 08 Mar 2019, 21:39 IST | Updated - 08 Mar 2019, 21:39 IST

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India captain Virat Kohli continued with his phenomenal form with the bat in the third ODI against Australia in Ranchi on Friday. The man slammed his 41st century in the 50-overs format after India faced early blows while chasing Australia’s 313 for 5 in 50 overs. It was the seventh century in last 11 ODI matches that Kohli has played at home and the third this year. Kohli also overtook Rahul Dravid as the third-highest scorer for India in the ODIs and is now behind only former captains Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly.

Wicket kept falling around Kohli but he kept the reins together

Former England captain Michael Vaughan took to Twitter to repeat his “GOAT” remark over Kohli saying the ace batsman was at it again, using an emoji of the animal to signify the ‘Great Of All Time’. Kohli came into bat after India lost Shikhar Dhawan (1) early and soon Rohit Sharma (14) and Ambati Rayudu (2) were also gone leaving India at 27 for 3. Kohli then resurrected the innings with Mahendra Singh Dhoni who was back at No.5 but could not manage more than 26.

The duo added 59 runs for the fourth wicket when Dhoni perished. Kedar Jadhav (26) then gave his captain a decent company and the two added 88 runs for the fifth wicket in 12 overs keeping the target in sight. Spinner Adam Zampa took both the wickets of Dhoni and Jadhav and the hero of the Nagpur game, Vijay Shankar, joined Kohli for the sixth wicket when the latter completed his hundred. Kohli eventually fell for 123 to Zampa.

Earlier in the day, Indian bowlers did not have a great outing as the Australians made merry after Kohli won the toss and sent them into bat. Captain Aaron Finch hit form by scoring 93 while his opening partner Usman Khawaja hit his maiden hundred in ODIs since making his debut more than six years ago. Kuldeep Yadav was the pick of the Indian bowlers with three for 64, continuing with his wicket-taking habit in this series. Mohammed Shami was the only other wicket-taker for India while Jasprit Bumrah went reward-less in the game.

Indian players fielded in the game wearing camouflage caps to pay respect to the martyrs of the Pulwama terror attack on February 14.