Another day, another ODI match, another chase, and another Virat Kohli century. The sense of deja vu was prevalent all over the place as soon as the Indian captain walked out to bat in the third ODI of the ongoing five-match series in Pune on Saturday.
Bolstered by Shai Hope and then the finishing kick by Ashley Nurse, bolted West Indies to 283 in their 50 overs.
India did not get off to an entirely bright start as Rohit Sharma perished early and this brought captain Kohli to the crease. He started off brightly with a couple of promising drives and like it has been the case, he tossed away plenty of records by the wayside.
The chase-maestro, the run-machine
He peeled off an easy half-century which became his 49th at that moment and this also made him the highest run getting captain in an ODI series against the West IIndies Since, 2016, Virat Kohli, who has an unparalleled record during chasing averages 101 when his team bats second and is head and shoulders above the rest.
Although the Indian captain could not finish off the chase for his side, he notched up his 38th ODI century. It was his 6th century this year. Also, he has now scored four consecutive centuries against West Indies. With this century, Kohli now averages 101 at this venue in Pune.
He has now equalled the likes of AB de Villiers and Jonny Bairstow in the list of batsmen to have scored three successive ODI hundreds. Also, he became the only Indian player to achieve this feat.
In an inspired move, Jason Holder brought on Marlon Samuels. The ball was short, Kohli went for the pull, but missed it and was castled. It brought an end to his innings and extinguished India's hopes in the contest. However, there has been a trend, the last five dismissals which have featured the Indian captain have all come against spinners.
Despite all his efforts, India could not win the match as Kohli's dismissal proved to be the game changer and West Indies drew level in the series with a convincing margin of 43 runs. This was India's first loss in nine matches and it includes a couple of tied affairs.
