Virat Kohli finally achieved his long-awaited Test century with a brilliant score of 186, helping the home team gain the upper hand against Australia in the fourth Test.
Kohli, who last scored a century in November 2019, smashed 15 fours in a 364-ball innings that saw him spend more than eight hours at the crease as India posted 571.
He was caught by Marnus Labuschagne off Todd Murphy on , preventing him from reaching the 8th double century.
With a 2-1 series lead, India effectively put themselves in an invincible position going into the game’s final day.
After beginning the day on 59, Kohli continued to inspire and gave additional proof that he has regained his form through a patient innings.
Kohli has recently scored one-day and T20 centuries after struggling with the bat in 2021 and 2022, which cost him the captaincy and forced him to discuss his difficulties with mental health.
His relief was evident as he finally reached his long-awaited 28th Test hundred. The crowd erupted in jubilation as Kohli, overcome with emotion, kissed the locket on his gold chain while beaming and gazing upward.
Axar Patel contributed with Kohli in a sixth-wicket stand of 162, scoring four sixes and five fours in his superb knock of 79, and once he was gone, Australia easily dismissed Ravichandran Ashwin and Umesh Yadav.
After he realised he was out of partners, Kohli played less cautiously and was caught by Labuschagne at long-on to become the final Indian wicket to go. Australia finished the day on 3-0 while being 91 runs behind after the first inning.
Usman Khawaja injured his knee while fielding, so the tourists sent out nightwatchman Matt Kuhnemann to open alongside Travis Head.
Kuhnemann survived 18 balls despite coming close to being caught twice as Australia completed the final six overs without losing a wicket.
Axar Patel: “I am happy to be contributing”
“The way I’m batting, I am happy to be contributing. I am playing my game, backing my strengths. I am just carrying forward my confidence. The way I was helping the team win matches last year, that’s helping me. I am punishing the bad balls and respecting the good deliveries. The idea was to play as long as possible.”
“At first we were chasing their score. Once we went past, the talk was that if I get a bad ball, I would hit it. Once a batter is set, there isn’t a lot in it for the bowlers. There are a few odd balls that stay low, but once you get set, you get an idea of the wicket and it gets easier.”
Full Scorecard: IND vs AUS 4th Test
Australia 1st Innings
| BATTING | R | B | M | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Travis Head | c Jadeja b Ashwin | 32 | 44 | 69 | 7 | 0 | 72.72 |
| Usman Khawaja | lbw b Patel | 180 | 422 | 611 | 21 | 0 | 42.65 |
| Marnus Labuschagne | b Mohammed Shami | 3 | 20 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 15.00 |
| Steven Smith (c) | b Jadeja | 38 | 135 | 153 | 3 | 0 | 28.14 |
| Peter Handscomb | b Mohammed Shami | 17 | 27 | 32 | 3 | 0 | 62.96 |
| Cameron Green | c †Bharat b Ashwin | 114 | 170 | 249 | 18 | 0 | 67.05 |
| Alex Carey † | c Patel b Ashwin | 0 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Mitchell Starc | c Iyer b Ashwin | 6 | 20 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 30.00 |
| Nathan Lyon | c Kohli b Ashwin | 34 | 96 | 133 | 6 | 0 | 35.41 |
| Todd Murphy | lbw b Ashwin | 41 | 61 | 74 | 5 | 0 | 67.21 |
| Matthew Kuhnemann | not out | 0 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Extras | (b 9, lb 3, nb 2, w 1) | 15 | |||||
| TOTAL | 167.2 Ov (RR: 2.86, 693 Mins) | 480 | |||||
| Fall of wickets: 1-61 (Travis Head, 15.3 ov), 2-72 (Marnus Labuschagne, 22.2 ov), 3-151 (Steven Smith, 63.4 ov), 4-170 (Peter Handscomb, 70.4 ov), 5-378 (Cameron Green, 130.2 ov), 6-378 (Alex Carey, 130.6 ov), 7-387 (Mitchell Starc, 135.3 ov), 8-409 (Usman Khawaja, 146.1 ov), 9-479 (Todd Murphy, 165.3 ov), 10-480 (Nathan Lyon, 167.2 ov) • DRS |
| BOWLING | O | M | R | W | ECON | WD | NB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mohammed Shami | 31 | 3 | 134 | 2 | 4.32 | 1 | 2 |
| Umesh Yadav | 25 | 2 | 105 | 0 | 4.20 | 0 | 0 |
| Ravichandran Ashwin | 47.2 | 15 | 91 | 6 | 1.92 | 0 | 0 |
| Ravindra Jadeja | 35 | 5 | 89 | 1 | 2.54 | 0 | 0 |
| Axar Patel | 28 | 8 | 47 | 1 | 1.67 | 0 | 0 |
| Shreyas Iyer | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2.00 | 0 | 0 |
India 1st Innings
| BATTING | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rohit Sharma (c) | c Labuschagne b Kuhnemann | 35 | 58 | 3 | 1 | 60.34 |
| Shubman Gill | lbw b Lyon | 128 | 235 | 12 | 1 | 54.46 |
| Cheteshwar Pujara | lbw b Murphy | 42 | 121 | 3 | 0 | 34.71 |
| Virat Kohli | c Labuschagne b Murphy | 186 | 364 | 15 | 0 | 51.09 |
| Ravindra Jadeja | c Khawaja b Murphy | 28 | 84 | 2 | 1 | 33.33 |
| Srikar Bharat † | c Handscomb b Lyon | 44 | 88 | 2 | 3 | 50.00 |
| Axar Patel | b Starc | 79 | 113 | 5 | 4 | 69.91 |
| Ravichandran Ashwin | c Kuhnemann b Lyon | 7 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 58.33 |
| Umesh Yadav | run out (Handscomb) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – |
| Mohammed Shami | not out | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Shreyas Iyer | absent hurt | – | – | – | – | – |
| Extras | (b 14, lb 4, nb 4) | 22 | ||||
| TOTAL | 178.5 Ov (RR: 3.19) | 571 | ||||
| Fall of wickets: 1-74 (Rohit Sharma, 20.6 ov), 2-187 (Cheteshwar Pujara, 61.6 ov), 3-245 (Shubman Gill, 78.4 ov), 4-309 (Ravindra Jadeja, 106.6 ov), 5-393 (Srikar Bharat, 136.4 ov), 6-555 (Axar Patel, 172.3 ov), 7-568 (Ravichandran Ashwin, 175.6 ov), 8-569 (Umesh Yadav, 176.3 ov), 9-571 (Virat Kohli, 178.5 ov) • DRS |
| BOWLING | O | M | R | W | ECON | WD | NB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mitchell Starc | 22 | 3 | 97 | 1 | 4.40 | 0 | 0 |
| Cameron Green | 18 | 1 | 90 | 0 | 5.00 | 0 | 3 |
| Nathan Lyon | 65 | 9 | 151 | 3 | 2.32 | 0 | 0 |
| Matthew Kuhnemann | 25 | 3 | 94 | 1 | 3.76 | 0 | 1 |
| Todd Murphy | 45.5 | 10 | 113 | 3 | 2.46 | 0 | 0 |
| Travis Head | 3 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 2.66 | 0 | 0 |
Australia 2nd Innings
| BATTING | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matthew Kuhnemann | not out | 0 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Travis Head | not out | 3 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 16.66 |
| Extras | 0 | |||||
| TOTAL | 6 Ov (RR: 0.50) | 3 | ||||
| Yet to bat: Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith (c), Peter Handscomb, Cameron Green, Alex Carey †, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy | ||||||
| DRS |
| BOWLING | O | M | R | W | ECON | WD | NB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ravichandran Ashwin | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0.33 | 0 | 0 |
| Ravindra Jadeja | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0.50 | 0 | 0 |
| Mohammed Shami | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1.00 | 0 | 0 |
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