Will Virat Kohli’s wait for elusive ton end at Chinnaswamy?

Virat Kohli will eye his much-awaited 71st international ton when he plays Sri Lanka in his second home – Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore – on Saturday. The former India led the Royal Challengers Bangalore, an IPL side based out of Bangalore, for 10 years before announcing that he will step down this year. 

India play Sri Lanka in the second Test, a pink-ball game, starting Saturday. 

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Kohli, referred to as the run-machine, has not scored a century in 28 months. The last time he reached the a three-figure mark, it was during India’s first home day-night Test in which India thrashed Bangladesh by an innings and 46 runs in Kolkata, back in November 2019. He had scored 136 back then. The 33-year-old has since got a 50-plus score only six times with highest being a knock of 79 against South Africa in Cape Town in January this year.

He is returning to the M Chinnaswamy stadium, which will hold a full-capacity crowd, and spectators will expect some cracking drives and a ton from their ‘King’. 

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In the first Test versus Sri Lanka, Kohli started off well. He struck a couple drives on the on-side and also one gorgeous straight one. The No 4 scored 45 runs off 76 balls with the help of four boundaries before being deceived by Embuldeniya’s sharp turn. 

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Squads: India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Mayank Agarwal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hanuma Vihari, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Jayant Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Kona Bharat (wk), Umesh Yadav, Saurabh Kumar, Priyank Panchal

Sri Lanka: Dimuth Karunaratne (captain), Dhanajaya De Silva, Charith Asalanka, Dushmantha Chameera, Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews, Niroshan Dickwella, Lasith Embuldeniya, Vishwa Fernando, Suranga Lakmal, Lahiru Thirimanne, Lahiru Kumara, Kusal Mendis (wk), Pathum Nssanka, Jeffrey Vandersay, Praveen Jayawickrama, Chamika Karunaratne.

Match to start at 2:00 pm.