Virat Kohli speaks about his 17th century, says he doesnt count his failures

What’s the story?

India beat hosts Sri Lanka by 304 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the Test series. India recorded their biggest overseas in, while for the Islanders, it was the biggest defeat in their own backyard.

After a long slump in form, Virat Kohli scored his 17th Test century and roared back to form. For the skipper, it was a matter of satisfaction to have scored a century in a winning cause, and not a matter of counting the number of times his bat failed.

“I wasn't looking at things from that point of view. I think people on the outside start counting the number of innings when a batsman doesn't score well but for us as a batsman or anyone playing in the 11, it's all about what the team wants in that particular situation. And you end up scoring runs as well plus you end up helping team also,” Kohli told reporters at the post-match conference.

“I wasn't certainly looking at things like how many innings I haven't scored because when you are playing all formats, you don't think which format you have not scored runs in how many innings. You can't utilise so much energy in that. But it feels always good to get runs when the team wins.”

In case you didn’t know...

With this knock, the 28-year-old ended a streak of seven consecutive Test innings deprived of a half century. In the Border-Gavaskar series against Australia earlier this year, he could muster only 46 runs in three Tests. This was Kohli's 10th ton as captain, one behind Sunil Gavaskar's 11.

The heart of the matter

Kohli brought up the knock on day four of the Test and this knock bettered his Test average to 50.02. It also made him the only cricketer in the history of the game to boast of a 50 plus average in all three formats of international cricket. That is simply incredible for someone as young as him.

What’s next?

The two teams will play the second Test from August 3 to August 7 at the Sinhalese Sports Club, Colombo.

Author’s take

For a batsman of Kohli’s calibre, it was only a matter of time before he roared back to form. The resurgence of the Indian skipper’s form can be a huge threat to an already depleted Sri Lankan side.