Virat Kohli scored his second century in this tour of Australia
Virat Kohli led from the front in Adelaide as India chased 299 to stay alive in the three-match series against Australia on Tuesday.
Kohli's mastery in chasing was again at display as he paced his innings to perfection in the do-or-die fixture, thus, helping India win the match by 6 wickets and level the series at the Adelaide Oval.
Coming in to bat in the 8th over of the match after Shikhar Dhawan's wicket, who gave India a blazing start before falling for 32 off 28 balls to Jason Behrendorff.
Kohli started off slowly as Rohit Sharma accelerated from the other end the two put on a stand of 54 runs for the second wicket to stead the ship for the visitors. However, Rohit tried to up the ante and fell to Marcus Stoinis in the 18th over of the innings for 43.
Once Rohit got out, it was on Kohli to take the mantle on his hands and lead the chase and that is exactly he did. Kohli kept rotating the strike with Ambati Rayudu and put the bad balls away.
The 30-year-old then bought up his 49th ODI fifty in the 31st over of the innings with a double of Glenn Maxwell. But, his joy didn't last long as Rayudu fell later in the over while trying to hit Maxwell over mid-wicket but only to hand a simple catch to Stoinis.
Rayudu's wicket brough Mahendra Singh Dhoni into the crease and that's when the Indian captain decided to take on the bowlers as Dhoni tooj is time to settele in. Kohli cut, pull and hit a magnificent six over Nathan Lyon's head to signal his intent and race into the 80s.
With India neededing less than 100 in 14.3 overs, Kohli then switched to rotating the strike -- something that he could with ease with Dhoni.
The Indian captain then kept pushing for singles and twos and brought up his century in the 43rd over of the Indian innings with a double off Peter Siddle to hit his second century in this tour Down Under -- the first came in the second Test at the Perth Stadium.
This was also Kohli's fourth century in Adelaide with three comning in Tests and first in ODIs.
This was Kohli's 24th hundred while chasing in ODIs and 39th overall in 50-over cricket. Kohli currently also holds the record for most centuries -- 21 hundreds -- in successful chases.
This was also Kohli's 11th hundred in Australia across all formats -- the most by any overseas batsman Down Under.
Kohli also overtook Sri Lankan pair of Sanath Jayasuriya and Kumar Sangakkara to become the player with second most centuries in ODIs overseas. Kohli now has 22 -- behind Sachin Tendulkar, who has 29 to his name.
The Delhi dasher is also the 11th highest run-getter in ODI cricket now. He has 10339 runs from 218 games for India in ODIs.
Kohi however, failed to take his team all the way as he fell for 104 off 112 balls in the 44th over of the innings while trying to flick one for a six over mid-wicket off Jhye Richardson.
He smashed five fours and two sixes in his 112-ball stay at the crease.
