[Watch] Virat Kohli's calm celebration as he scores his first ODI century since August 2019

Virat Kohli finally broke his century drought in ODIs, scoring his 44th ODI hundred against Bangladesh in the third ODI at Chattogram on Saturday, December 10. With this hundred, Kohli has gone past Ricky Ponting (71) with 72 international hundreds and is now only behind the great Sachin Tendulkar (100).

Kohli hadn't scored an ODI hundred since August of 2019 and it was a truly long wait for someone who is widely considered one of the greatest to play in this format. However, the former Indian captain showed that form is temporary and class is permanent.

A gentle freebie on the pads is what Kohli got when he was on 97 and he gleefully tucked it away over fine leg for a six. It was followed by quite a mature celebration, very much unlike the young Kohli. It was almost as if he knew that he had regained his purple patch.

Here's the video of the moment when Kohli reached his 72nd international hundred:

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Virat Kohli suddenly looks at his vintage best

Ever since Virat Kohli got his 71st international hundred in the Asia Cup 2022 against Afghanistan, he seems to have hit a purple patch. An impressive run in the Asia Cup was followed by an incredible T20 World Cup, where Kohli finished as the highest run-scorer.

With the ODI World Cup in India next year, it was very important for Kohli to get the monkey off his back and end his wait for a hundred in the format. He is now just five away from equalling Sachin Tendulkar's record of 49 ODI hundreds.

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India XI: Shikhar Dhawan, Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (c & wk), Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Umran Malik.

Bangladesh XI: Litton Das (c), Anamul Haque, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Mahmudullah, Yasir Ali, Afif Hossain, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Ebadot Hossain.