Virat Kohli likes to keep his word. He scored 117 runs on 117 balls in the 3rd ODI of the Victoria Bitter series against Australia. This marked his 24th ODI century. It is also his first century against Australia in Australia.
India scored 295 runs for a loss of 6 wickets in that match but Australia successfully chased the target. India is on a five match ODI tour of Australia and there are still two matches to go.
Kohli had prophesied that he would be scoring a couple of centuries even before the match. He had made a promise to Wasim Akram to hit two centuries in the series against Australia after he got out at 91 runs.
Wasim Akram said “I met Virat Kohli at the WACA after the game. I told him ‘bad luck you missed a hundred. He replied, ‘Wasim bhai, I will make sure to score 2 (centuries) in the series.”
Akram is in Australia as a commentator and he must be elated after seeing Kohli deliver on his word. They spoke after the first ODI held at Western Australian Cricket Association in Perth.
Kohli is halfway through fulfilling his promise. He now has two matches to go to score another century or two. India will face Australia on 20 January at Canberra. The fifth and final ODI will be held on 23 January at Sydney.
It is a bold promise to make for Kohli, seeing as before this series he had never even scored a half century against Australia. He has played seven matches against Australia in Australia before the start of this series.
Now with three ODIs completed, Kohli already has two half centuries and one century against Australia. He narrowly missed out on scoring a century in the first ODI played at Perth. He managed to score 91 runs in that match. In the second match he was run out for 56 runs. But he hit the century mark in the third ODI.
Kohli will have additional motivation to win the match after Glenn Maxwell just called the Indian squad milestone driven. The charge needs a win to be cleared off the slate. India has scored well in the first three ODI matches but Australia managed to win anyway.
India have already lost the series 0-3. After this series India and Australia will face off in a T20 series.
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