India vs West Indies: Virat Kohli becomes first Indian to slam hat-trick of ODI centuries

With the burst of pace that Virat Kohli is currently racing in, it looks like in no time most records of world cricket will belong to him. On Saturday Kohli became the first Indian and 10^th overall to score three consecutive ODI centuries in back-to-back matches.

Kohli had scored 140 and 157 not out in the first two ODIs against the West Indies. In the third ODI at Pune, the Indian skipper made a gritty 107 from 119 deliveries that included 10 fours and a six.

Babar Azam, Kumar Sangakkara, Zaheer Abbas, Saeed Anwar, H Gibbs, AB de Villiers, Quinton de Kock, Ross Taylor, and J Bairstow are the other batsmen to score a hat-trick of ODI centuries in three consecutive ODI matches. Former Sri Lanka captain Sangakkara is the only batsmen to score four consecutive ODI centuries in the same number of matches – a unique feat he achieved at the 2015 Cricket World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

He also amassed 6000 ODI runs on Asia soil becoming the fastest to do so. And once again it was Sachin Tendulkar, whose record he broke. The Master Blaster had taken 142 innings to reach the landmark, but Kohli did it in his 117^th ODI match.

Also Read: Watch: MS Dhoni stuns everyone with a fascinating catch in 3rd ODI against West Indies

The century in the 3^rd ODI against the Windies was Kohli’s 38^th ODI hundred and helped him overtake MS Dhoni as the fourth highest ODI run-getter for India.

The achievement also makes him the first Indian cricketer to score four consecutive ODI centuries in his own country. Babar Azam with five consecutive centuries in UAE leads the unique list, which also has South Africa’s AB de Villiers (4 consecutive hundreds in India), the Pakistan duo of Zaheer Abbas (3 in Pak) and Saeed Anwar (3 in UAE), South African wicket-keeper Quinton de Kock (3 in RSA) and Kumar Sangakkara (3 in Australia).

Kohli’s last four innings in India state 113 (106 balls) against New Zealand in 2017 and 140 (107), 159* (129) and 107 (119) against the West Indies this series. It is also his fourth consecutive ODI century against the Caribbean nation following his 111 against them in Kingston last year.

Also Read: India vs West Indies: Virat Kohli joins two batting greats in an elite cricket list