Bullish, run-thirsty Virat Kohli hates pit stops between his fifty and hundred

Virat Kohli and scoring hundreds has become synonymous with weekends. Both happen periodically, bring excitement of an anticipated holiday and finish before you know it. Such has been the unparalleled run of form that Kohli’s hundreds, even 150s, are viewed with awe, appreciated with a clap and nothing much else. After all, it isn’t a rare phenomenon. With Kohli, it is the norm, an occurrence so usual these days that it is more of a certainty than sunrise. [caption id=“attachment_4239517” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] India’s captain Virat Kohli raises his bat after scoring 150 runs during their 3rd Test against Sri Lanka. AP [/caption] As he wielded his willow and rampaged his way to yet another hundred at Delhi, the third consecutive one in the series, Kohli broke quite a few records. There are days when cricket statisticians have no work and then there are days when Virat Kohli bats. The Indian skipper ensures that every time he walks out to the middle, these statisticians are kept on their toes and made to work on their numbers. While it is interesting to note that no Indian skipper has had such a mesmeric influence in a series, Kohli’s feats transcend the realms of the Indian subcontinent. In fact, it wasn’t the first time Kohli had compiled three hundreds on the trot. He had achieved something quite similar against Australia in 2014/15. Forget Kohli the ODI champion and forget the fact that he averages more than 50 in T20I cricket. It is Kohli the Test batsman that is trending now. Of his last nine Test hundreds, seven have been scores of 150 or more! Surprised? Awed? On the two occasions Kohli did not cross 150 after hitting a hundred, he remained unbeaten on 103 and 104. There are three double hundreds in these nine hundreds (with a fourth looming large on Sunday).

Btw ... @imVkohli is a freak ... Best player in the World ... #DifferentLevel

— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) December 2, 2017

The 151* on Saturday was his eighth score of 150 or more in Test cricket. That seven of them have come in his last nine hundreds is testimony to his breathtaking consistency as a batsman.

Virat Kohli now first captain to score Test centuries in each Test of a three match series!#IndvSL

— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) December 2, 2017

Like Harsha Bhogle put it, instances of Kohli scoring 150s have become so common that the most likely reaction to it is a “Yeah, ok”. The Indian skipper went past 3000 Test runs as skipper, becoming the third after MS Dhoni and Sunil Gavaskar to achieve this feat, and the fifth quickest in terms of innings’ played. He also became the 11th Indian to breach the 5000-run mark in Test cricket. In Delhi, the No 4 batsman blitzed his way to a 110-ball hundred, the fastest of his Test career, rarely looking perturbed by the pedestrian Lankan bowling. The local boy has four Test hundreds against Sri Lanka this year (another two in ODIs) and has been their nemesis on two tours, one home and one away. However, it isn’t all these statistics that need attention right now. The monstrous rate at which Kohli is compiling hundreds is best exemplified by analysing his astonishing conversion rate of fifties to hundreds. At the moment, Kohli has 20 Test tons and 14 half-centuries, signifying a conversion percentage of 58.82. Among Test batsman with more than 20 Test hundreds, only Don Bradman has a better rate of converting fifties to hundreds. Among contemporaries, only Steven Smith comes close, with 21 hundreds and as many half-centuries, a conversion rate of 50.00. In fact, since Kohli’s Test debut, only Smith has more centuries than him in the format — 21 as against Kohli’s 20. For those criticising that playing a lot of home Tests has helped the Indian skipper, his equal split of hundreds within and outside the sub-continent stand as towering evidence of his prowess.

Sometimes you get to see a batsman in complete control of a situation, almost looking invincible. At this stage, Virat Kohli is in that zone.

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) December 2, 2017

Of his last six scores above 50 in Tests, every single one has been converted into three figure marks starting with his double hundred against England in Mumbai last year. The table below shows conversion rates of hundreds for players having a minimum of 20 Test hundreds.

It is Kohli’s mind-boggling determination to carry on in the same vein after crossing his half-century that deserves special mention. Unforgiving as a batsman, the Indian skipper is more than a mere run machine. He is the epitome of consistency, constantly motivating himself and his troops, always pushing the boundaries of excellence and setting new benchmarks for the younger guns to follow. Take out the 20 Test hundreds cut-off, and Kohli still features in the top three of batsmen with the best conversion rates since his Test debut. Only Michael Clarke and Younis Khan have better rates of converting fifties to hundreds since Kohli’s debut.

Since the year of his Test debut — 2011 — he has equal or more hundreds than half-centuries in all but one year (2013), underlining that such kind of jaw-dropping consistency isn’t something new for the Indian skipper.

In 2017, Kohli has so far had no pit stops between 50 and 100. Every time he has crossed that half-century mark, he has gone on to make hundreds and really big ones at that. This kind of phenomenal batting can longer be termed as a “purple patch”. The Delhiite has been grinding out runs at will ever since his debut and has forever been on a purple patch of form.