The modern master of the game in all formats, Virat Kohli has scored 54 ODI centuries. Kohli not just have the highest number of ODI centuries but he scored them with the highest conversion rate.
Kohli is more than a match ahead of Hasim Amla in the 2nd place. And, he’s more than 3 matches ahead of Sachin Tendulkar.
This probably should be attributed to Kohli’s superior focus and concentration backed up by his physical fitness level matched only by the top level athletes in any sport. And, Kohli has been an inspiration to generations not only by his Cricketing skills but by his fitness-levels too.
Centuries – Year by Year
Having the international career started in 2008 just after winning the U-19 World Cup, Kohli struggled a bit at the start and was briefly dropped from the national team. Kohli came back stronger as a cricketer and a person and started accumulating runs across all formats. His performances in ODIs are phenomenal specially on the chases.
Kohli was scoring centuries quite consistently up to August 2019. But, next 3 and half year he lost the form a little and did not score single century. But, during this time Kohli scored 10 half centuries averaging over 33. This is still a decent performance for any other batsman though.
Consistent Against Most Teams
It seems Kohli bettered his conversion rate of 5.76 matches per century against many of the opposition teams apart from Zimbabwe, Australia and England. Against Australia Kohli’s conversion rate is a little lower. During most of Kohli’s career Australia was one of the top ODI teams in the world and one team that could challenge India regularly.
But, it looks like a real struggle against England; only 3 centuries on 38 matches. And, all 3 centuries were scored in India. May be it shows that Kohli struggled a little under English bowling conditions?
Against Zimbabwe, it’s probably a matter of small sample size.
On the other hand, Bangladesh has suffered the Kohli effect most with 5 centuries in 17 matches.
Home Advantage
Out of 54 ODI centuries, Kohli scored 27 centuries in India while playing only 42% of the matches in India.
One place Kohli has not been able to dominate in terms of centuries so far is England.
Only 1 century in 33 matches. But, Kohli has scored 12 half centuries in England where 4 of them were not outs. Highest among them was 96* against Bangladesh; his favourite opponent.
Favourite Cities
Kohli’s 27 centuries scored in India have been spread across 16 different cities. That put the hotspots for Kohli’s centuries outside India; 4 each in Colombo and Dhaka.
In India, Kohli has scored 3 centuries each in Guwahati, Pune, Ranchi, Visakhapatnam.
Master of Run Chases
One aspect Kohli is most known for is leading run chases. As a batter who likes to stick to conventional, proper Cricket shots, he has the ability keep scoreboard moving even against the toughest of the bowlers. His fitness level helps to keep moving between the wickets quicker and keep accumulating singles and doubles even when boundaries are hard to come by.
Kohli has score 29 centuries in chases. It’s 12 more than Tendulkar who is next best on that aspect. And, Kohli scores a century every 6.03 matches in chase. Rohit Sharma comes close in the conversion rate but more than 3 matches away.
More importantly, with 24 out of 29 centuries, Kohli won the matches for India.
Kohli, The Captain
A natural leader, Kohli was able feed so much confidence into Indian teams and made them fearless. And, Kohli’s own performance also noticeably improved as the captain.
39% of the Kohli’s centuries were scored while he was the captain of 31% of the matches.