Virat Kohli fails to score an international ton in calendar year for first time since debut

On the day of India's horrifying collpase at the Adelaide Oval, succumbing to their lowest ever total in Test cricket history, Indian skipper Virat Kohli recorded an unwanted personal feat following his dismissal on day 3 of the first Test against Australia.

For the first time in his international career, since his debut year in 2008, Kohli has failed to score an international hundred in any format of the game. Among the very many predictions made at the start of this year, Kohli inchining closer to Sachin Tendulkar's international tally of hundreds were one. But the 31-year-old, in his 22 appearances across format in a pandemic-interrupted year, failed to score a single century.

Five times he did come close to the triple-figure mark, all against Australia across home and away contests, his most recent being a gritty and



well-carved 74 in the first innings in the Adelaide Test before an unfortunate run-out ended his run. He was eventually dismissed for just four runs in his final innings of the year, finishing with 842 runs.

His tally of half-centuries, seven in 2020, is also the lowest he has amassed since 2015 when he had scored just three fifties, with four centuries. His international average for the year also stands lowest among all calendar years since his debut.

Although India have one more international gamne left before 2020 ends, the Boxing-Day Test against Australia in Melbourne, Kohli will not be part of the game as he will be away on paternal leave for the birth of his first child.

"I am confident the boys going forward will reflect on this and come up with a better result on Boxing Day," Kohli said in the post-match presentation.