Virat Kohli registered his maiden ODI hundred on this day on Dec 24, 10 years ago. Here’s how he got going in the ODI format and scored his only century of the previous decade.

India faced the Sri Lankan team at the Eden Gardens on December 24, 2009. The visitors batted first and scored 315 with the help of their opener Upul Tharanga’s 118 and Kumar Sangakkara’s contribution of 60 runs off 72 balls.

Team India’s run-chase began with one of the best opening pairs in ODI cricket, Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag. However, it was clearly not their day as they both were back in the pavilion with the scoreboard reading 23/2 after 3.4 overs. That is when Virat Kohli joined Gautam Gambhir in the middle.

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The Delhi-duo went after the Sri Lankan bowlers at almost run-a-ball. They both got to their individual fifties, then hundreds until Kohli was out caught by the substitute fielder M Pushpakumara. Their partnership was worth 224 runs off 214 balls.

It was Virat Kohli’s first ODI century and was just a harbinger of things to come in the next decade. Gambhir went on to score 150 off just 137 balls and remained unbeaten to see India through.

The Delhi boy is the highest run-getter in ODI cricket among active cricketers and has the most number of centuries amongst them after a decade. He added 42 centuries in the next 10 years and has earned a place among the best Indian captains.

He scored the most number of international runs for the last four years and ended 2019 as the second-highest run-getter in the ODI format in the year. He now has 11,609 runs in 233 ODI innings including 43 centuries and 55 half-centuries. He has scored all this at an average of 59.84 and a strike rate of 93.28