Virat Kohli’s 71st century.

Like the unnamed narrator in the Fight Club (I am Jack’s complete lack of surprise etc, so on), the impending 71st international century of the Indian batting superstar has taken a life of its own. On November 23, 2019 when Bangladesh were at the receiving end of a century in the pink-ball Test against India at Eden Gardens, it would have taken a brave human to predict Kohli would not add to his list since.

And here we are, two complete years in international cricket later, Kohli is still on 70 centuries.

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“HAIL KING KOHLI! Records keep coming for the Run Machine no matter what the format is. The 1st Indian to hit hundred in pink ball Test,” reads the description of the bcci.tv video for Kohli’s century in Kolkata that day.

He has constantly maintained that centuries are secondary for him and he will take an India win over a personal milestone every time he steps out. But for his legion of fans, the wait has gone on excruciatingly long. At one point, the idea of Kohli equalling or bettering Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 100 centuries seemed a matter of when and not if. But now, with Kohli 33 years old and already speaking about maintaining his workload and not playing when he loses the fire within, it doesn’t seem like a foregone conclusion.

(Note: Scroll horizontally or swipe right to view columns in the tables below)

Most international centuries

Player Total innings Most 100s
Sachin Tendulkar (INDIA) 782 100
Ricky Ponting (AUS/ICC) 668 71
Virat Kohli (INDIA) 494 70
Kumar Sangakkara (Asia/ICC/SL) 666 63
Jacques Kallis (Afr/ICC/SA) 617 62

Since Kohli’s 70th ton, which was his 27th in Test cricket, he has scored 1989 runs in 56 innings across formats, going past fifty 20 times. His highest score in this period is 94* which, in fact, is the first innings he played after that Eden Gardens ton – in a T20I against West Indies.

Kohli's international stats (all 3 formats)

Mat Inns Runs HS Ave 100 50
Career 445 494 23161 254* 55.14 70 118
Since Nov 23, 2019 (all formats) 50 56 1989 94* 40.59 0 20
Tests since Nov 23, 2019 12 21 563 74 26.80 0 5
ODIs since Nov 23, 2019 15 15 649 89 43.26 0 8
T20Is since Nov 23, 2019 23 20 777 94* 59.76 0 7

Kohli's international innings since last ton

Score region Number of innings*
90 and more 1
80-89 5
70-79 6
60-69 3
50-59 5
10-49 20
1-10 11
0s 5
(Including not outs)

In his international cricket career, this is by some distance his leanest patch. Only in 2008, when he made his international debut and played just 5 innings, did he go without a century before 2020 and 2021. While 2020 saw minimal cricket around the globe, 2021 has not seen him reach his best yet either with just over a month left to go. This two-year period stands out especially so because it came after a stunning run of 36 centuries he scored in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 combined. In 2018, in fact, he had stunning conversion rate of going into three figures 11 out of the 20 times he reached 50 in an innings.

Kohli's international career by calendar year

Inns Runs HS 100 50
2008 5 159 54 0 1
2009 8 325 107 1 2
2010 25 1021 118 3 7
2011 47 1644 117 4 10
2012 46 2186 183 8 10
2013 43 1913 119 6 10
2014 47 2286 169 8 12
2015 37 1307 147 4 3
2016 41 2595 235 7 13
2017 52 2818 243 11 10
2018 47 2735 160* 11 9
2019 46 2455 254* 7 14
2020 24 842 89 0 7
2021* 26 875 80* 0 10
*Ongoing

While it is clearly the leanest patch in Kohli’s career, the question then is how does it compare with the rest of batters in international cricket? It throws up some interesting numbers. Kohli is joint 2nd-most on this list in that period, with his 20 fifty-plus scores bettered only by Pakistan’s Babar Azam.

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Going by the frequency of fifty-plus scores across formats with a cut off of 10 such scores (Total innings played per No. of 50+ innings), Kohli is still fifth best in the world.

Most intn'l runs since Nov 23, 2019

Player Inns Runs
Babar Azam 59 2777
Joe Root 46 2475
Mohammad Rizwan  59 2184
Rohit Sharma  48 2083
Virat Kohli  56 1989
KL Rahul  47 1977
Quinton de Kock  49 1948
Jos Buttler  54 1697
Rassie van der Dussen  49 1674
David Warner 35 1639

Most intn'l 50-plus scores since Nov 23, 2019

Player Inns 100s 50-plus scores
Babar Azam  59 7 28
KL Rahul  47 4 20
Virat Kohli  56 0 20
Mohammad Rizwan  59 2 19
RG Sharma  48 4 17

Frequency of 50-plus scores in intn't cricket

Player Inns 50+ Frequeny of 50+plus scores
Marnus Labuschagne  27 13 2.08
Babar Azam 59 28 2.11
KL Rahul  47 20 2.35
Tamim Iqbal 29 12 2.42
Virat Kohli 56 20 2.80

Clearly, the slump is relative in international cricket and only becomes pronounced with his own lofty standards of the past.

The real recent lows for Kohli have come in Test cricket, a format that he relishes the most evidently. He has played some really good knocks on tough pitches in this period, showing great control, but the consistency of big scores has eluded him. His five 50-plus scores in that period is the joint 21st in the list. His strong suit has been in the ODIs historically and even during this period, no man has scored more 50-plus knocks than Kohli (8, joint-best with Shai Hope and KL Rahul). Clearly, in ODIs he has still maintained a great record. The T20I century continues to remain elusive for him but his overall numbers are still decent, with seven T20I 50-plus scores putting him joint sixth.

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There have been some close calls for Kohli in the intervening period but given that he will be coming back after a break, and increasingly more conscious of keeping a manageable workload, and that it will be in Mumbai for a home Test match, it would once again take a brave human to bet against the century wait coming to an end.

All stats for men’s international cricket as of November 23, 2021 and courtesy ESPNCricinfo Statsguru