What happened in Virat Kohli's 100th, 200th, 300th, and 400th international matches?
Virat Kohli began his 500th international match in some style on Thursday. The right-hander came to bat in the second Test against the West Indies after India lost Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill in quick succession and then saw Rohit Sharma and Ajinky Rahane facing the same fate soon after.
In the 161-ball innings, Kohli didn't time every ball well and looked scratchy for a few small phases. However, some patient strike-rotation and pouncing on the loose deliveries took him to 87. Ravindra Jadeja did the same at the other end with his 36 off 84 and India reached 288/4 at stumps on Day 1.
Kohli broke multiple records during the course of his innings. He became the fifth-highest run-scorer in Tests for India, going past Virender Sehwag's 8586 runs to reach 8642 runs in the format. The 34-year-old also took the fifth spot in international runs across formats after overtaking Jaques Kallis to sit at 25548 runs.
Kohli's only the 10th cricketer to play 500 international matches. However, his previous milestone games — 100th, 200th, 300th, and 400th — haven't been as good as this one.
Let's look at how the master fared in them:
100th international match
Virat Kohli and Rahul Dravid talking about playing as teammates in 2011 to now being part as a head coach and batter in West Indies. pic.twitter.com/3INOLjOssh
All of his other four milestone matches have been ODIs. His 100th match was an Asia Cup clash against Bangladesh in Mirpur on March 16, 2012. The match was sandwiched between his highest ODI score of 183 against Pakistan and a 108 against Sri Lanka, which also got him the tag of the "chase master".
Against Bangladesh, however, India batted first and he hit a brilliant 66 (82), before playing on a cover drive against Abdur Razzak to his stumps. That broke his 148-run partnership with Sachin Tendulkar and India could only reach 289/5 despite the latter's ton.
Bangladesh won the last-over thriller chase by five wickets.
200th international match
The Delhi-born played his 200th international match on November 6, 2014, against Sri Lanka in the second ODI of a five-match home series. This was the tour where Rohit hit his famous 264 in the fourth match and Kohli batted at No. 4 (Ambati Rayudu played at three) to still clinch the Player of the Series award.
Sri Lanka didn't have the best bowling attack in the world but their batting was still intact. India kept them down to 274/8 in the second ODI at Ahmedabad's then-Motera Stadium. Kohli, who was the stand-in captain in MS Dhoni's absence, hit 49 (44) with two sixes and two fours in the chase.
He got out mistiming a drive against leg-spinner Seekkuge Prasanna. Rayudu scored a brilliant 121 (his first ODI ton) and Shikhar Dhawan chipped in with 79 as India chased the total down with six wickets and more than five overs to spare.
300th international match
It took three years for him to play his 300th international match - on August 24, 2017, during India's all-format tour of Sri Lanka. Some would remember the ODI series for India's beautiful-sky blue kit while others for the 219-run stand between Kohli and Rohit in the fourth match of the series in Colombo.
Kohli's 300th was the second ODI, another memorable match. Sri Lanka batted first to score 236/8. India had to chase 231 after DLS calculations. India had a good opening stand before Akila Dananjaya wreaked havoc with his mystery spin, taking 6/64 and collapsing India from 109/0 to 131/7.
He got the Indian No. 3 for just 4 (2) as he missed a flick against a quick googly to see his stumps clattered. Dhoni 45 (68) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar 53 (80) saved the tourists with their 100-run partnership for the eighth wicket.
400th international match
Virat Kohli Vs Kesrick Williams!🚨 Virat Kohli Vs Kesrick Williams!
KOHLI RULES CRICKET
pic.twitter.com/awH2HKwSeN
The former India captain scored a golden duck in his 400th international match, an ODI against West Indies in Vishakhapatnam on December 18, 2019. On the batting-friendly track, Rohit and Rahul built a 227-run opening stand.
Kohli, who had waited for his chance all day in full batting gear, came in the 38th over and West Indies captain Kieron Pollard welcomed him with a slow and wide short-ball. The right-hander got a top edge to it, which was pouched by mid-wicket.
The ODI series saw some memorable performances from Jadeja but the tour is mostly remembered for Kohli's battle with Kesrick Williams in the T20I series, where he pulled out the bowler's signature celebration during a brilliant match-winning 94 off 50.