Still not a hundred in World Cup 2019 but Virat Kohli isn’t complaining

It is hard to see India captain Virat Kohli go without a century for a long time. But the reality has been witnessed in the ongoing ICC World Cup 2019 where the ace batsman hasn’t made a single three-digit score in eight innings even though he made five consecutive fifties. The matter has come up for discussion on several platforms but Kohli is not too concerned about it. After all, it’s the captain who is winning games even without batsman Kohli hitting hundreds.

His last international hundred had come against Australia in Ranchi in March which was the second of the two consecutive hundreds. He also scored three consecutive hundreds in the home series before that which was against the West Indies. In between, he hit a ton against the Kangaroos in Adelaide in January as well. But Kohli’s fans are a tad disappointed that he hasn’t yet scored a hundred at the World Cup. The batsman had scored centuries in his very first matches in the last two World Cups (2011 and 2015) but this time, it has been a dry spell.

Kohli’s deputy Rohit Sharma has a completely contrasting story to offer on the other hand. In eight outings so far, the ace opener has slammed five hundreds to shatter a number of records. And Rohit’s authoritative batting up front has forced Kohli to change his game and he himself has conceded that.

Speaking to reporters at Old Trafford on the eve of the first semi-final, Kohli said: “It’s been a different kind of role I have played in this World Cup.” Former New Zealand coach Mike Hesson felt that Rohit’s knocks have forced Kohli to adjust his game and he will be the man to get for the NZ bowlers if they get Rohit early.

Kohli could score hundreds against Afghanistan and West Indies

He had neared a century in some matches like Australia and Pakistan but lost his wicket while accelerating in the end overs. He, however, had great opportunities to get hundreds against Afghanistan and the West Indies but failed to convert them. Against England, both Kohli and Rohit had put up a threatening partnership but while the latter went on to complete his ton, Kohli missed out.

“It’s great that Rohit has been scoring so consistently, which means that coming in the later half of the innings, you have to play a different role, which is controlling the middle overs and letting guys like Hardik (Pandya), Kedar (Jadhav), MS (Dhoni) and Rishabh (Pant) express themselves,” the Indian captain said.

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Kohli’s fans will still be disappointed since he has only eight more to get to equal Sachin Tendulkar’s record tally of 49 centuries in ODIs. However, going by the statistics since 2018, Rohit has hit 11 hundreds as against his nine and could pose a challenge to him in the near future if the form sustains. Rohit has 27 hundreds in ODIs as of now.