Sometimes a century feels like a milestone. Sometimes it feels like a reply. This one in Ranchi had a strange weight to it, almost like the ground itself was watching an old friend push back against time, noise and doubt. It wasn’t just his 52nd ODI hundred. It felt like a moment he needed, and maybe we did too.
The Toss Nightmare: India’s Unbelievable Streak Continues
Nineteen straight ODI tosses lost. Think about that. Three captains in three matches on this tour, and each one has walked back shaking his head. KL Rahul joined the club in Ranchi. In cricket we talk about luck all the time, but this is beyond luck. This is a pattern that makes you wonder if the coin has a memory. South Africa chose to bowl first, expecting dew later. They got what they wanted. You want control in your home conditions, but the coin keeps saying no.
Weathering the Early Storm: Silencing the Critics
Jaiswal fell early. The familiar conversations started again—the future of Rohit and Kohli, who will retire, who will stay. People talk with short memory. These two had just stitched a match-winning stand in Australia, but in cricket, yesterday is often forgotten by breakfast.
Kohli walked in looking like someone who was tired of hearing things. Not angry, just done with the noise. From ball one he looked settled, like he had walked into a room he knew better than anyone else.
Finding the Flow: The Luck and the Acceleration
Nandre Burger’s first ball to him took a real edge. It didn’t hit the slip. It didn’t reach third man. It slid between them like it had made its own path. Sometimes that’s all cricket is—one thin moment between silence and applause.
After that, it felt as if he slipped into his old rhythm. The off-drive in the air. Then the same shot along the ground. A square drive that felt like a signature. A few minutes later, the scoreboard showed 22 off 20 balls. Ranchi breathed easier.
The Ranchi Connection: Why Kohli Loves This Ground
There’s always something emotional about Kohli playing in smaller Indian cities; grounds where people don’t just watch cricket, they store memories from it. And this ground had already seen him at his best. His three previous scores here were 139 not out, 45 and 123. The soil remembers him. The dressing room walls have heard his plans. When he walked in after Jaiswal fell, he looked like a man coming home. The early six over long-off was not reckless. It was a message. The square drive was not lucky. It was practiced on this very turf during net sessions. On Sunday, he used that knowledge like a map.
Seven Sixes and a Lesson in Timing
He ended with seven sixes, only once in his long ODI life had he hit more. And those two sixes off Subrayen’s last over were not angry shots. They were almost calm, like he was picking up coins from the ground.
This wasn’t a muscle innings. This was timing, memory, stubbornness.
Kohli and Rohit: A Historic Partnership Record
When Rohit joined him, the game slowed but the story didn’t. Together, they crossed a mark only two pairs in ODI history had reached—twenty century stands. Only Sachin and Ganguly have more.
No matter how much people debate their future, numbers don’t lie. Their partnership has lived longer than many cricket careers.
Total Dominance: Kohli’s Stats vs South Africa
Kohli’s numbers against South Africa in the last ten years are stupid good. Five centuries and four half-centuries in just 13 innings. Over 1000 runs at an average of 140. That is not dominance. That is ownership. The South African bowlers know these numbers. You could see it in their body language. When Kohli reached 50, their shoulders dropped slightly. When he hit those two sixes off Subrayen, their heads went down. Fast bowlers tried the short ball. He pulled it. They tried the wide line. He cut it. For a decade now, South Africa has been Kohli’s favourite opponent. He does not say it out loud, but the scoreboard does the talking.
A beautiful end spoiled by a slower ball
The pitch kept slowing. After Rohit fell, India crawled. In those 21 overs, the team made 115 runs. Kohli scored 63 of them in just 59 balls. The rest of the side together didn’t cross that. It felt like he was carrying both ends of the wicket.
The slower balls were gripping and stopping. Eventually one got Kohli. A slower-ball bouncer from Burger. He lofted it to long-off. Ryan Rickelton ran back and took a brilliant catch. India were 276 for 5 in 42.5 overs. Kohli had made 135 off 120 balls.
The 2027 World Cup Question Is Wrong
Everyone asks about 2027. Will Kohli and Rohit play? Will they be too old? No selector has promised them anything. That is fair. But here is the thing: performances like this make the question irrelevant. Kohli does not need promises. He just makes runs.
In 2025, Kohli has 484 runs at an average of 53.8 and a strike rate of 89.8. Both numbers are lower than his career average and strike rate. But they are still elite. For any other batter, these would be career-best numbers.
Think about this. Two hundred sixty batters have scored 2000 or more ODI runs. None has a better average than Kohli’s 58.02. He has 127 scores of fifty or more. He has 52 centuries in 294 innings. This means every three innings, he crosses fifty. Every six innings, he gets a century. These are not normal numbers. We are watching something we may never see again. We need to savour this while it lasts.
No other human being in any format of international cricket has reached where Kohli has reached. 52 hundreds. The number sits there, simple and heavy.
The question should not be whether he can play in 2027. The question should be who is good enough to replace him. So far, the answer is nobody.
