Virat Kohli Shines with Century in Vijay Hazare Trophy Opener
Kohli's Stellar Performance in Vijay Hazare Trophy
New Delhi [India] - On December 24, former Bengal and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) wicketkeeper-batter Shreevats Goswami expressed admiration for Virat Kohli, following his impressive century in Delhi's inaugural match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy (VHT) 2025-26.
In the opening match against Andhra at the BCCI Centre of Excellence, Kohli, aged 37, scored a remarkable 131 runs off 101 balls, leading Delhi to successfully chase down a target of 299 in just 37.4 overs.
In his last five 50-over matches, Kohli has achieved three centuries and two fifties, including two centuries and a fifty during the ODI series against South Africa. This outstanding performance comes after he faced two consecutive ducks in the three-match ODI series in Australia last October.
Goswami took to X to commend Kohli's consistency and skill, stating that he epitomizes ODI cricket. He remarked, “After two consecutive ducks in Australia, many believed Virat Kohli was finished, but that’s the class of this man. In his last five fifty-over games, he scored 74*, 135, 102, 65*, and 131. You simply cannot count him out. I’ve said it before and will say it again: ODI cricket = Virat Kohli,” in his post on X.
In the VHT match, Delhi won the toss and opted to field first. Andhra's Ricky Bhui scored a century (122 runs off 105 balls, including 11 fours and seven sixes), helping his team reach 298/8 in 50 overs. Notably, captain and emerging all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy contributed 23 runs off 21 balls, hitting one four and one six.
For Delhi, pacers Simarjeet Singh (5 wickets for 54 runs) and Prince Yadav (3 wickets for 50 runs) were the standout bowlers.
Despite an early loss of Arpit Rana, a solid 113-run partnership between Priyansh Arya (74 runs off 44 balls, with seven fours and five sixes) and Kohli put Delhi in a strong position. Kohli then formed a 160-run partnership with Nitish Rana (77 runs off 55 balls, including nine fours and two sixes) before being dismissed for 131 runs off 101 balls, featuring 14 fours and three sixes.
Although skipper Rishabh Pant had a disappointing outing with just 5 runs, Delhi clinched victory by four wickets in 37.4 overs.
With this performance, Kohli became the second Indian batter, after Sachin Tendulkar (21,999 runs), to surpass 16,000 runs in List-A cricket, making him the ninth player overall to achieve this milestone. He recorded his 58th List A century and is now just three centuries shy of overtaking Tendulkar's record of 60 List A centuries.
Kohli reached this milestone in just 330 innings, significantly faster than Tendulkar, who took 391 innings.