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Virat Kohli keeps defying age. He might be 37, but he’s still as quick between the wickets as he was earlier. The ultimate testament to his fitness was seen in the third and final ODI against New Zealand at the Holkar Stadium in Indore, where he ran faster than Harshit Rana, who is just 26. The partnership between Rana and Kohli saw the duo running quick doubles, but there was one instance where the former put his hand up, refusing the second run as he was visibly tired. Rana’s expression said it all as he had run out of steam, but Kohli was raring to go at the other end.
Kohli aggregated 240 runs in the three ODIs against New Zealand, but his knock of 124 in the decider went in vain as the Kiwis registered a 41-run win to take the series 2-1. The former India captain has been in red-hot form in ODIs of late, scoring three centuries and two fifties in his last six matches for India.
This golden run is a smashing answer to all the Kohli critics who questioned his future not that long ago. The recent run of the right-hander forced former New Zealand pacer Simon Doull to say that Kohli can play on until he’s 44 or 45, as he is still the fittest player in Team India.
“Some of the shots were just crisp and clean. Beyond that, it’s how he manoeuvres the field and how he runs between the wickets. There’s still an air of youth about him. Despite his age and experience, he’d probably still be the fittest guy on that side. That’s professionalism,” Doull told JioHotstar.
“The willingness to keep trying to win games, to drag your team back into the contest when they’re so far behind, and to run as hard as he does, for his own runs and for his teammates. There’s so much to love about how he’s playing at the moment. May he stick around in international cricket until he’s 44 or 45 years old,” he added.
54 ODI centuries for Kohli
The century in Indore was the 54th one for Kohli in the ODI format and the 85th overall in international cricket. Midway through this knock, he also surpassed Ricky Ponting to become the leading run-scorer at the No.3 spot in ODIs.
In the three matches against the Kiwis, Kohli returned with scores of 93, 23 and 124. Previously, he had also hit two centuries and one fifty in the previous series against South Africa.
Kohli then also represented Delhi in the first two matches of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, returning with one century and one fifty.
