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12:39 AM
A file photo of Virat Kohli. (Getty Images/ AFP)
After Team India opted to bat against West Indies in the first Test, all eyes were once again on skipper Virat Kohli and the skipper didn't disappoint and went on to score an unbeaten ton on the opening day in Antigua on Thursday.
And it won't be wrong to equate the Kohli rage to Rajinikanth, whose new film Kabali released on Friday and has taken India by storm.
India returned to the longest format of the game after seven months and Kohli hadn't forgotten doing what he does best, i.e., scoring centuries whatever the format.
The last time Kohli visited the West Indies, he wasn't ripe for Test cricket and managed just 76 runs from five innings but he has almost doubled that in just one innings after he scored a brilliant 143 not out on the first day of the series.
It's been a while since he led India as MS Dhoni was in charge through the T20 season, but Kohli, who is captaining the side for the first time in a full series outside the subcontinent, has channelled the pressure of captaincy well and flow through to his innings.
Kohli, who has slammed his 12th Test hundred, had never scored a Test century against West Indies before Thursday.
History shows Indian batsmen have always excelled in the West Indian conditions and went on to becoming cricketing greats. Kohli would be happy the way he has started and is on course to score his first Test double hundred. What a way that would be to begin India's gruelling 17-Test season.
Kohli looked in excellent form right from the time he drove through the covers for a tripple.. He didn't look back and raised his fifty in only 75 balls.
His next 50 runs came at an even quicker rate and his century included eleven boundaries.
India's month-long campaign in the Caribbean started in a sedate manner as they managed a mere 72 runs in the first session but lost only one wicket, and soon after lunch the visitors lost their second wicket in the form of Cheteshwar Pujara.
But Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan put on a 105-run partnership for the third wicket to deflate Jason Holder and Co. Dhawan also played a brilliant knock under pressure. This wasn't for the first time in his career that Dhawan was facing the heat and he silenced his critics in some style with a solid 84.
Although in the initial stages of the first session the Indian batsman found it difficult to score runs, as time went by, the pitch eased up and the track looked good for batting.
En route his century, Kohli also crossed the 3000-run mark landmark, taking 73 innings to reach the milestone behind Virender Sehwag (55 innings), Mohammad Azharuddin (64), Sunil Gavaskar (66), Gautam Gambhir (66), Rahul Dravid (67), Sachin Tendulkar (67) and Navjot Singh Sidhu (70).
The second session completely belonged to the duo from Delhi as they dominated the home side and scored runs at a pretty brisk pace. The duo ran hard between the wickets and unsettled the opposition and they continued to bat fluently, timing their shots better than what Vijay and Pujara had done eaDrlier in the day.
Dhawan perished short of his hundred but Kohli never lost his concentration and continued the way he loves to bat; and for the record, Kohli also became the first Indian to score 50+ in his maiden Test innings as captain in the West Indies - beating the previous highest of 49 set by Rahul Dravid.
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