Kohli becomes second-fastest to reach 25 Test centuries

PERTH: Indian captain Virat Kohli made his 25th hundred in the 75th Test and 127th innings of his illustrious career. He reached his century with a classic straight drive off paceman Mitchell Starc, having been at the crease for 310 minutes and faced 214 balls.

Kohli became the second-fastest player to reach 25 Test centuries in terms of innings with 127, behind only Don Bradman (68) and ahead of his countryman Tendulkar (130). Sachin Tendulkar and Sunil Gavaskar had taken 130 and 138 innings respectively.

He also joined Tendulkar as the only Indian batsmen to have scored six Test centuries in Australia, and became the first Test centurion at the new venue.

Kohli is the 21st batsman to register 25 or more centuries in Test cricket, and the fourth from India.

His six Test hundreds in Australia took just 19 innings. Only two visiting batsmen have scored more - nine centuries by Jack Hobbs in 45 innings and seven by Wally Hammond in 35 innings. Herbert Sutcliffe and Tendulkar also scored six centuries each.

Kohli made ten Test centuries in Australia, South Africa and England combined, in just 49 innings. Among Asian batsmen, only Tendulkar has more - 15 hundreds in 96 innings.

As captain, Kohli has scored 34 centuries - 18 in Tests and 16 in One-day Internationals. These are the second most by any batsman in the world. He went past Graeme Smith who had 33 centuries as captain. Now only Ricky Ponting has more - 41 hundreds.