SL vs IND: Virat Kohli surpasses Sanath Jayasuriya to become batsman with third-highest ODI centuries

Indian skipper Virat Kohli added yet another feather to his cap as he notched up his 29th ODI century in the fourth one-day international match against Sri Lanka at Premadasa Stadium, today. Ergo, the captain surpassed Lankan legend Sanath Jayasuriya to stand third on the list of most centuries in ODI cricket. ( SL vs IND, 4th ODI: LIVE BLOG )

IANS

New Delhi: India captain Virat Kohli added yet another feather to his cap as he notched up his 29th ODI century in the fourth one-day international match against Sri Lanka at Premadasa Stadium, today. Ergo, the captain surpassed Lankan legend Sanath Jayasuriya to stand third on the list of most centuries in ODI cricket. ( SL vs IND, 4th ODI: LIVE BLOG )

Opting to bat first, the tourists lost opener Shikhar Dhawan early into their innings. The outside-off delivery from Vishwa Fernando in the second over, chipped off the thick outside edge of his bat and flew down straight to Malinda Pushpakumara at third man. Virat Kohli stepped in next. He wasn't at his best in the last two matches as he failed to make a significant contribution to the team's scorecard.

But the skipper combined with opener Rohit Sharma to stitch a 221-run stand before Sri Lanka paceman Lasith Malinga claimed his 300th ODI victim by dismissing Kohli's effort was caught by Munaweera at deep cover. Before that the 28-year-old notched up his 29th ODI century with a whipped four down the on side and thus surpassing Lankan legend Jayasuriya to become the batsman with third most ODI centuries. He now stands one behind former Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting, but leading the chart is still the Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar with 49 such knocks.

Adding to it, Virat's century came from just 76 deliveries, thereby equalling the feat achieved by Aussie gloveman Adam Gilchrist, former Pakistani skipper Shahid Afridi and England batsman Jos Buttler. Each of them have four hundreds scored under 80 balls. Jayasuriya still sits atop alongside South African batsman AB de Villiers with eight such centuries in the list of most numbers of hundreds within 80 balls. Below them stands Virender Sehwag with seven tons. Also, with the 28-year-old notching up the ton in the the half way mark of the innings, it turned out to be his fastest in in terms of overs. His previous record was in the 30th over, against Pakistan, where he had notched up 183 runs.

Kohli also surpassed Gilchrist and Gautam Gambhir to become the batsman with second-most number of ODI centuries against Sri Lanka. He sits alongside Pakistani legend Saeed Anwar with seven centuries against the Islanders. The Delhi-based batsman is now just one behind his idol Sachin, who has eight such tons.

He has surpassed MS Dhoni and Tendulkar to stand second on the list of most ODI centuries by an Indian captain. Kohli's seven hundreds as captain is four behind Sourav Ganguly.

The leading ODI run-getter for the year 2017 and also the No. 1 as per the latest ICC ODI rankings, Virat has truly been at his best with the willow. One masterful knock and he has tumbled down a plethora of previous records.