The script did not change much for Virat Kohli, even though the venue may have changed since India played the second Test against Sri Lanka (and yes, since he last scored a century).
On Saturday, at the Feroz Shah Kotla, Virat ended Day 1 unbeaten at 156 after once again breaking a string of records of his way to the three-figure mark.
When he scored his third straight century of the series, Virat became the first international captain to hit three successive hundreds in a three-Test series.
The Indian captain scored 104 not out in Kolkata followed by 213 in Nagpur before completing his hat-trick with his 20th Test hundred in his 63rd game in Delhi. While many captains have had three or four Test tons in a five-match series, it is rarity that a batsman has scored three consecutive tons in a three-match series.
Kohli now has 11 international hundreds in a season -- one less than Sachin Tendulkar’s 12.
Incidentally, this was also Kohli's first ever Test hundred at the Feroz Shah Kotla. His century off 110 balls and the half-century off 52 balls were his individual fastest landmarks in this format.
Enroute his 156, Virat also completed 500 runs in Test cricket. The 5000 runs came in 105 innings, which is the fourth fastest among the Indian batsmen after Sunil Gavaskar (95 innings), Virender Sehwag (98 innings) and Sachin Tendulkar (103 innings).
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