{"id":10492,"date":"2026-01-18T21:24:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T15:54:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/?p=680859"},"modified":"2026-01-18T21:24:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T15:54:18","slug":"virat-kohli-slams-54th-odi-century-wages-lone-battle-against-new-zealand-in-indore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/cricket\/virat-kohli-slams-54th-odi-century-wages-lone-battle-against-new-zealand-in-indore\/","title":{"rendered":"Virat Kohli slams 54th ODI century, wages lone battle against New Zealand in Indore"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Virat Kohli<\/strong> produced a masterclass under pressure, smashing his <strong>54th ODI century<\/strong> as he fought a largely lone battle for <strong>India<\/strong> against <strong>New Zealand<\/strong> in the third ODI at Indore on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>Chasing a stiff target of <strong>337<\/strong>, Kohli reached his hundred in <strong>91 balls<\/strong>, striking <strong>8 fours and 2 sixes<\/strong>, anchoring India\u2019s innings as wickets fell regularly at the other end. It was a knock built on control, timing, and composure, with Kohli absorbing pressure while keeping the chase alive deep into the innings.<\/p>\n<p>With this century, Kohli now holds the record for <strong>most ODI hundreds against New Zealand<\/strong>, taking his tally to <strong>seven<\/strong>, moving ahead of Ricky Ponting and Virender Sehwag, who have six each. The milestone was also Kohli\u2019s <strong>85th international century<\/strong> and his <strong>41st hundred on Indian soil<\/strong>, further cementing his dominance in home conditions. He also became the batter with the <strong>most runs scored from the No. 3 position<\/strong> in ODIs.<\/p>\n<p>India\u2019s chase began on a steady note before early setbacks. Rohit Sharma fell for 11, while Shubman Gill was dismissed for 23. Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul failed to provide support, departing for 3 and 1 respectively, leaving Kohli to hold the innings together.<\/p>\n<p>Nitish Kumar Reddy briefly shifted momentum with a fluent 53, adding a valuable partnership with Kohli, but his dismissal once again exposed India\u2019s lower order. Ravindra Jadeja managed only 12, after which Kohli found support from Harshit Rana, who played a fearless knock before falling late in the chase.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier in the match, New Zealand posted <strong>337 for 8<\/strong>, powered by a massive <strong>219-run fourth-wicket partnership<\/strong> between <strong>Daryl Mitchell<\/strong> and <strong>Glenn Phillips<\/strong>. Mitchell struck a commanding <strong>137<\/strong>, while Phillips counter-attacked with a blistering <strong>106<\/strong>, completely shifting the momentum after the visitors were reduced to 58 for 3.<\/p>\n<p>For India, <strong>Arshdeep Singh<\/strong> impressed with early breakthroughs, finishing with figures of <strong>3 for 63<\/strong>, while <strong>Harshit Rana<\/strong> supported him with <strong>3 for 84<\/strong>, extracting bounce and movement to trouble the New Zealand batters in the early phase.<\/p>\n<p>Despite Kohli\u2019s exceptional hundred, the lack of sustained partnerships proved costly, leaving India short in a chase where one man stood tall amid a collapsing lineup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Virat Kohli produced a masterclass under pressure, smashing his 54th ODI century as he fought a largely lone battle for\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":250,"featured_media":32972,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cricket"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/250"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10492\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}