Virat Kohli slammed his 55th ODI century in the opening match of the West Indies series in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday. The 37-year-old took 74 deliveries in an innings peppered with 6 fours and 6 sixes. This ton helped Kohli equal Sachin Tendulkar for most List A hundreds – 60th and he also became the player with most international centuries in a country– 42nd in India.

His skipper Shubman Gill also brought up his 10th ODI ton and became the fastest Indian to 10 centuries in the longest format in just 67 innings.

Earlier, Kohli had reached another milestone in a career filled with them when he reached 15000 ODI runs. Kohli, who brought up his half century in just 40 balls, became the second player after the great Tendulkar to reach 15,000 runs in the 50-over format. Tendular took 377 innings to reach the milestone while Kohli did it in 303.

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In the first innings, Kuldeep Yadav’s sorcery mitigated a maiden 50-over format hundred by Justin Greaves as India restricted the West Indies to an underwhelming 295 for seven. Greaves (101, 108b) and his opening partner John Campbell (62, 60b) added 135 runs in 19.2 overs as the West Indies appeared to have primed for a far bigger total than the eventual one they managed after being asked to bat.

But Kuldeep (4/40) conjured some magic on a track that offered a smidgeon of assistance to spinners, curtailing the run of Windies batters. The left-arm wrist spinner was equally brainy too on the day.


After keeping Campbell guessing with two wide deliveries on the off-stump, Kuldeep fired one in fuller and the left-handed batter’s miscued sweep ended in Prasidh Krishna’s hands at mid-on.

It was a huge relief for India as Campbell, who hammered Ravindra Jadeja for a four and two sixes in his first over en route to a 49-ball fifty, was settling in for a bigger knock. Kuldeep soon dealt a severe blow, dismissing Shai Hope. The West Indies captain was deceived by the subtle change in line by Kuldeep, skying him to Jadeja near point. Centurion Greaves and promising Jewel Andrew fell in successive balls to Kuldeep.

The 31-year-old managed to sneak the ball under Greaves’s sweep and the DRS umpire upheld the bowlers’ shout for a leg before wicket. Andrew did not have much idea about a googly on the middle and off stumps line, and playing forward had disastrous consequences, a healthy edge to Rohit Sharma at first slip.

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Suddenly, the West Indies found themselves shuddering at 198 for five from 176 for one. It required Amir Jangoo (58 not out) to stitch alliances of 48 runs for the sixth wicket with Roston Chase, and 38 runs for the seventh wicket with Matthew Ford, to get near 300.