Virat Kohli surpasses Graeme Smith, only behind Ricky Ponting in list of most tons as captain

Virat Kohli did not have the best of starts with his bat in the ongoing Test series against Australia. The series started in Adelaide – the venue where Kohli had scored two centuries on the last tour and had taken India agonisingly close to a miraculous win. However, his twin tons had gone in vain as Australia pulled off a thrilling win. But unlike the last time, Kohli did not do well with the bat but his team managed to end up on the winning side.

In the first innings, Kohli scored just 3. In the second, he managed to get the start but failed to convert it, thus departing for 34. However, eventually, it did not hurt India as the visitors won the game by 1 runs. But it took Kohli just a handful of days to bounce back from the rare batting failure.

The India skipper slammed a stunning century in the second Test in Perth to help India recover from a disastrous start. In reply to Australia’s 326, India had started their innings on a disastrous note. Both Murali Vijay and KL Rahul flopped again and departed for single-digit scores before Kohli took the onus on himself to bail the side out of trouble. He shared important stands with Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane to lead the way. He finally departed after scoring 123.

Captain Kohli’s 34th ton

With his latest Test ton, Kohli surpassed former South Africa skipper Graeme Smith to take the second spot in the list of most centuries as skipper. Kohli was level with Smith at 33 tons and has now surpassed the legendary batsman. Remarkably, the 30-year-old scored his 34 tons in just 121 games while Smith took 286 games for his 33 tons. In addition to 34 centuries, Kohli has also scored 25 fifties.

Former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting leads the list with 41 centuries in 324 games. Steve Smith and Michael Clarke complete the top five of the list while Brian Lara is at the sixth position.

Here is a list showing captains with most international centuries:

~ Written by Bijoy

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