Not in any haste or any desperation to score a hundred: Virat Kohli

India captain Virat Kohli has played down worries over not being able to score an international hundred since November 2019.

The right-handed batsman last notched up three figures during the pink-ball Test against Bangladesh at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. However, according to Virat Kohli, contributing to the team’s cause is more important than scoring a century.

Speaking at a virtual press conference ahead of the fourth Test against England in Ahmedabad, he said:

“I am not in any haste or any desperation because I understand where I stand as a batsman, how I am playing, what my responsibility in the team is.”

#OnThisDay in 2008, @imVkohli led #TeamIndia 🇮🇳 to U-19 World Cup title victory 🏆P.S.: Congratulations to the skipper on becoming the first cricketer to reach 1⃣0⃣0⃣M followers on Instagram 👌 pic.twitter.com/BTn2MoGRNr

— BCCI (@BCCI) March 2, 2021

Taking a dig at critics, Virat Kohli added that people look at things from a very different point of view. Elaborating on his viewpoint, he stated:

“They (critics) look at milestones. If the team doesn’t do well, they look at the captaincy. If the team does well and batsmen don’t perform, they look at individual scores. So, for me, these are just issues oscillating between one and another."

He further added in this regard:

"My responsibility as the captain of the Indian cricket team and as a batsman is to score runs. I will make sure I keep pushing the team forward and get involved in partnerships. Along that process, if milestones happen, great. If they don’t, the team should win. At the end of the day, that’s our main goal, that’s always been.”

The Indian captain has registered two half-centuries in the ongoing four-match Test series against England so far. He scored 72 in the first Test and 62 in the second.

Virat Kohli will be worried about not scoring a century: Aakash Chopra

Virat Kohli

Former India opener Aakash Chopra claimed that Virat Kohli would be worried about not having scored a hundred in international cricket for a while.

While previewing the fourth India-England Test on ESPNcricinfo, Chopra said:

"It is not for India although it is better if we don't talk about the last match because the entire England batting lineup did not score 100 runs in the second innings. It is not a worry for the Indian team, they are fine. When Virat Kohli was not there, you still won in Australia. So, this team has the depth that whether Kohli is there or not, whether he scores runs or not, we have seen that this team has the ability. But he will himself be worried because it has been a long time since he has scored a century and this stays in your mind as a batsman.”

Virat Kohli has scored 288 runs at an average of 26.18 in the six Tests he has played since his last century against Bangladesh.