India Vs Sri Lanka, 1st Test: Virat Kohli slams 17th Test century, breaks several records

Galle Test, July 29: India's 'run machine' Virat Kohli on Saturday (July 29) slammed his seventeenth Test hundred and second against Sri Lanka on fourth day of the Galle Test.

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The 28-year-old Indian batting mainstay reached the triple figure mark off 132 deliveries as visitors frustrated Sri Lankan bowlers kept waiting for the declaration as hosts kept piling up runs.

# This is his first century ever batting in the third innings. The charismatic India skipper and a modern day batting masterclass has converted yet another fifty into a brilliant hundred.

# Kohli equalled former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar's record of 17 hundreds in 116 Tests. However, Kohli has reached the milestone in exactly half the number Vengsarkar took -- 58th match.

# This was Kohli's first ton after a gap of 7 innings. Prior to that he had scores of 38, 0, 13, 12, 15, 6 and 3. His last ton came against Bangladesh when he scored 204.

# With this knock, the right-handed batsman once again took his average above 50. His average is 50+ in all three formats of the game now and he's the only cricketer to have such a distinction.

# Kohli also surpassed several records after completing his 17th Test century. The cricketer has now slammed most centuries as an Indian captain after 27 Test matches.

# This is Kohli's 10th Test ton as a captain. He has surpassed former India captain Sunil Gavaskar who had smashed 9 Test tons in as many games.

# Former India captains Sachin Tendulkar and Mohammad Azharuddin had hit 7 Test centuries each as captains after 27 Tests.

# Kohli also surpassed cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar to bring his sixth century as a captain on the foreign soil. Tendulkar held this record of with his five tons in away Tests before Kohli.

# Kohli also completed 1000 runs as captain in Tests outside India. He is the quickest to reach there among Indians as he took just 17 innings. Tendulkar took 19 to reach 1000 Test runs as captain.

India rode on brilliant knocks from skipper Kohli and opener Abhinav Mukund to post 240/3 in their second innings and declared their innings setting a target of 550 for the hosts to chase.

Earlier on Friday, joining forces after the early departure of the first innings centurions Shikhar Dhawan (14) and Cheteshwar Pujara (15), Kohli (76 not out) and Mukund (81) put on 133 runs for the third wicket as India found themselves in a commanding position.

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