Virat Kohli becomes the fifth batsman to score ODI centuries against all Test playing teams

ODI century number 23 for Kohli

The run-machine, the century-maker, the run-chaser, etc., of the present Indian cricket team, Virat Kohli had scored runs and centuries against all of the top oppositions in the One-Day Internationals. He has been successful against almost all the teams.

Kohli made his ODI debut in August 2008, scored his maiden century in December 2009 and by July 2013 he had scored centuries against eight of the nine Test playing oppositions of India. The only team left out was South Africa. Till October 2015, his number of centuries against South Africa remained nil.

The 26-year-old had played 15 innings in 17 ODIs against South Africa scoring 490 runs with three half-centuries and no centuries. His highest score was 87* which he scored at Port Elizabeth in January 2011.

He had at least one ODI century against all the Test playing nations except against South Africa. In fact, Kohli scored at least two ODI centuries against all teams except South Africa and Zimbabwe.

After going 12 consecutive innings without a single score of 50 or more, Kohli scored 77 at Rajkot and then a 138 at Chennai against South Africa in the third and the fourth match of the five-match ODI series respectively.

The century at Chennai was his first ODI century against South Africa and with this he completed the set of scoring ODI centuries against all the Test playing nations.

This achievement by Kohli is quite remarkable as only four batsmen have done this in the past. And those four are Ricky Ponting, Herschelle Gibbs, Sachin Tendulkar and Hashim Amla.

Let’s have a look at Kohli’s ODI centuries against different teams.

Kohli’s 23 ODI centuries – Opposition wise

Opposition	100s	Innings	Runs	Average	S/R
Australia	3	16	621	47.76	96.72
Bangladesh	3	10	558	69.75	96.20
England	2	23	736	38.33	85.98
New Zealand	2	11	533	53.30	95.69
Pakistan	2	10	373	41.44	89.87
South Africa	1	16	628	41.86	80.61
Sri Lanka	6	39	1856	56.24	88.00
West Indies	3	22	1143	57.15	92.10
Zimbabwe	1	6	253	50.60	86.94

• Kohli has a single century against South Africa and Zimbabwe and at least two centuries against all the other Test-playing teams.
• Kohli averages more than 50 against Bangladesh, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Zimbabwe. He averages between 40 and 50 against Australia, Pakistan, and South Africa. Only against England he has an average of less than 40. His career average is 50.92.
• Also, Kohli has a strike rate of more than 90 against Australia, Bangladesh, New Zealand and Zimbabwe. Against all the other teams, he has strike rate between 80 and 90. His career strike rate is 89.48.

It is interesting to note that all of Kohli’s 23 ODI centuries and also his 34 half-centuries have come against Test playing teams only. He played four innings against associate teams but did not score any 50+ score.

The first batsman to score ODI centuries against all Test playing teams was Ponting. He achieved it when he scored his 14th ODI century on August 6, 2013, in his 174th inning. Second was Gibbs on February 6, 2015, third Tendulkar on March 16, 2012, and then Amla on November 19, 2014.

Amla took just 98 innings to complete this set while Tendulkar took 451 innings. Tendulkar had not scored any ODI century against Bangladesh till his penultimate ODI inning. He scored his 100th International century which was his first against Bangladesh in ODIs.

Number of centuries against each team in ODIs

Team	Ricky Ponting	Herschelle Gibbs	Sachin Tendulkar	Hashim Amla	Virat Kohli
Australia	-	3	9	1	3
Bangladesh	1	1	1	1	3
England	5	2	2	1	2
India	6	2	-	2	-
New Zealand	6	2	5	2	2
Pakistan	1	2	5	2	2
South Africa	2	-	5	-	1
Sri Lanka	4	1	8	3	6
West Indies	2	5	4	4	3
Zimbabwe	1	2	5	3	1
Associate teams	0	1	5	2	0
Total	28	21	49	21	23

Active players who can complete this set of scoring ODI 100s against all teams

• Chris Gayle needs to score century only against Australia.
• Tillakaratne Dilshan needs to score century only against West Indies.
• AB de Villiers needs one against Bangladesh.
• Yuvraj Singh against New Zealand.
• Ross Taylor against South Africa.