Kohli international centuries: Complete ODI, Test & T20I guide

Last updated: August 29

As of this update, Virat Kohli has 80 international centuries: ODI 50, Tests 29, T20I 1.

Introduction: the shape of a champion’s hundreds

Kohli’s hundreds are not random peaks on a scorecard; they are engineered outcomes. The rhythm is familiar to anyone who has watched him from close range. A quiet first half-hour to map out the pitch. Singles by muscle memory. The smallest crack in a bowler’s length—then the lever drops. A chase becomes a runway. A par total is revised mid-innings. A stadium senses inevitability.

When we talk about Virat Kohli international centuries, we’re not simply reciting a list. We’re decoding a system. Fitness that makes second runs routine, technique that travels, strike rotation that keeps bowlers suffocated, and a brutal clarity about what the game demands in that moment. It’s why a huge portion of Kohli’s ODI hundreds come in chases, why his Test double centuries arrived in clusters once he mastered pacing in subcontinental conditions, why his scores in global tournaments feel so unflustered. The power is as much mental as it is technical.

This is the definitive, expert-led view of Kohli’s international centuries—format by format, split by opposition and venues, with a tactician’s eye and the context that matters. It includes a clean, above-the-fold summary for featured snippets and enough depth to serve analysts, editors, and fans who care about the how and the why, not just the how many.

A quick scoreboard: Kohli total centuries by format

• Overall: 80
• ODI: 50
• Tests: 29
• T20I: 1

Key highlights at a glance

• Most ODI centuries among active players; fastest to 50 ODI centuries.
• ODI hundreds while chasing: the global benchmark (a towering number that has reset what “pressure batting” means).
• Test double centuries: seven, the most by an India Test captain.
• Global tournament pedigree: five ODI World Cup centuries; a T20I century in a continental event.
• Longevity and spread: hundreds across all major regions, with a significant away footprint.

Why Kohli’s hundreds land differently

There are great hundreds that sit on a highlight reel. Kohli’s best hundreds alter tournament tables, series narratives, and bowlers’ plans for the next month. Coaches love the predictability he brings to chaos. Bowlers hate it because they can’t find a pattern to exploit. It starts with an elite repeatable tempo:

• Tempo control: Early at-bats feature exaggerated forward presses to smother seam, a trigger step to close off the channel outside off, and crisp wrists into midwicket to pick up pace without risk. Once in, he rearranges fields with relentless singles.
• The chase mastery: Kohli treats required run rate as a manageable gradient, not a cliff. His mental model—no dead overs, no hero balls early—means the equation looks identical to him at 160 for 2 and 260 for 4.
• Field manipulation: Against left-arm pace shaping in, he stays leg-side of the ball to slice through point. Against off-spin, he incises through extra-cover early, then rides length for the pick-up pull. Very little is left to impulse.
• Conditioning: His hundreds often look simple because the running looks easy. It isn’t. He cashes in between overs 35 and 45 when others fade, adding 20 to 30 runs through twos alone. This is not a stat; this is testimony you can hear in the gasps of opposing fielders.

Kohli ODI centuries: the chase blueprint, the format-defining record

Fifty ODI centuries is not a line in a profile; it’s a monument to method. The signature Kohli ODI hundred has a structure coaches love to put on a whiteboard. Look for these motifs:

• The silent launch: Strike rate settles around the mid-70s while he samples movement, bounce, and slow turn. The bat path is neutral, the wrists do just enough.
• Singles into early gaps: He harasses mid-on and midwicket, forcing captains to choose between blocking singles and guarding boundaries.
• Targeted aggression: Once set, he picks the bowler to advance against—very often the fifth bowler or a spinner with a short side. It’s purposeful, not performative aggression.
• The finishing act: The run rate seems to climb precisely when risk does not. He keeps his boundary density predictable—two or three an over in the final arc—while protecting against dot clusters.

The chase master split

The ODI hundreds in chases are the gold standard. No player in history has stacked more hundreds while batting second. That number is the loudest proof of Kohli’s pressure control: the ability to keep equations realistic and then end them early.

How those ODI hundreds spread across conditions

• Subcontinent: A rich seam of batting-friendly surfaces, yes. But Kohli’s subcontinental ODI hundreds are built on minimizing spin risk. Watch how he plays the undercutting off-break with strong hands and minimal bat face on turning surfaces.
• SENA countries: The template is patience before fluency. He leaves fuller balls in the channel early, plays late under the eyes, then works through midwicket once he is sure of bounce. The Adelaide-Perth-Sydney arc shows how he recalibrates length expectations within an innings.
• Neutral venues: Tournament cricket at neutral venues often gives low-stress value for shots; Kohli’s hundreds here typically include a burst against the weakest link and then a smooth canter.

Opposition-wise (ODI)

• Sri Lanka: Where the tally swells the most. He’s feasted on varied attacks over cycles—swingers, hit-the-deck seamers, and classic ODI spinners. They’ve seen every version of a Kohli hundred, from boundary-light chases to big finals-style statements.
• West Indies: Another rich vein. Flat decks, quick outfields, and seamers who drift into his bat arc—he looks like he’s scrimmaging.
• Australia and England: Harder-earned but pure. The hands stay behind the ball longer; the blade is late, the wrists supple. Centuries here are blueprints for textbook ODI batting.

The milestone that changed the conversation

Virat Kohli 50th ODI century: The moment he stepped past the previous high-water mark for ODI hundreds was also an assertion of athletic longevity. Beyond the number, that innings had everything that defines his one-day batting—risk-managed gears, late acceleration, and relentless strike rotation. He didn’t just cross a record; he carried it into a new realm of durability.

Virat Kohli Test centuries: doubles, discipline, and a captain’s stamp

Kohli’s Test hundreds travel differently. They are not about tempo control alone; they’re about shaping a five-day plot. When the hundreds stack in Tests, the cue is often patience with the leave outside off, ruthless capitalizing on width once the ball goes soft, and a near-fanatical commitment to playing with the full face through the V.

• Double centuries: Seven. The moment he figured out how to resettle after a hundred, the doubles became routine. He could bat past lunch twice because his game minimizes energy leaks. His two-gear method—slow maintenance through good spells, opportunistic scoring when the ball is older—makes doubles logical endpoints, not surprises.
• Subcontinental mastery: He is at his most commanding when the ball isn’t misbehaving through the deck. On flatter Test surfaces, his forward press is long, the wrists uncoil late, and the late cut becomes a weapon against defensive lines.
• SENA grit: Things get flinty. The hands stay soft, the bat doesn’t chase the outswinger early. Kohli’s away hundreds in Tests glow because they’re built against constraint, not comfort.
• As captain: Kohli’s double-century spree came with the armband, and it wasn’t coincidental. The team template was score big, bat once, let the bowlers hunt. His own batting bought the bowlers time and the pitch a chance to evolve.

Virat Kohli double centuries (Tests): the defining set

• 200 vs West Indies, away: The innings that unlocked his appetite for staying on.
• 211 vs New Zealand, home: Assertive captain’s knock—punished anything back of a length; wrists everywhere.
• 235 vs England, home: The statement that he could turn high-quality attacks into long shifts.
• 204 vs Bangladesh, home: A masterclass in sustaining focus after reaching three figures.
• 213 vs Sri Lanka, home: Classic Kohli pacing—took the game away after tea.
• 243 vs Sri Lanka, home: The engine ran without a stutter; singles, singles, inevitable boundaries.
• 254* vs South Africa, home: Clinical. No rush, just a method that never ran out.

Kohli T20I century: the outlier that fits the pattern

A T20I hundred sits in his list like a comet—rare, brilliant, and yet entirely consistent with his white-ball method. It came at a continental event on a large ground where running mattered as much as timing. He didn’t slog into fatigue; he chaperoned an innings. He found pockets on the square boundaries and finished with an acceleration phase that felt like muscle memory rather than frenzy.

Virat Kohli centuries in chases: the definitive split

Kohli’s legacy in ODI cricket rests most firmly on what happens when India bats second. The scale of his hundreds in chases is unmatched. Look beyond the sheer count and note the patterns:

• Strike rotation early keeps the asking rate calm. Dot-ball pressure is his real opponent; he beats it with angles.
• He attacks the moment teams bring on a part-timer. Captains hate this because it scrambles their over-budget late.
• He finishes properly. Not every anchor gets to finish. Kohli prides himself on walking the team over the line, not handing off the wheel at 90.

Virat Kohli world cup centuries and knockout pedigree

Tournament cricket sharpens everything. Kohli’s ODI World Cup hundreds carry authority because they land against attacks that have spent weeks planning for him.

• World Cup hundreds: Five. One of them came in a semi-final at Wankhede, threaded like a surgeon’s cut through a high-pressure evening. Another was in Pune during a chase, the cleanest demonstration of equation control you’ll see. Another came on a brisk pitch against South Africa, a bowler’s day polished into a batter’s masterclass by immaculate risk management.
• Knockout cricket: He rarely feels hurried. The best marker of his knockout temperament is not just the hundred; it’s how he leaves runs in the tank for those around him, how he values wickets like oxygen.

Kohli centuries by opposition: who felt it most

• Sri Lanka: The biggest bundle. Their ODI plans against him often began with swing and ended with rueful glances at midwicket.
• West Indies: He builds tall here; the two-paced conflicts of Caribbean pitches don’t bother him. He’s happy to bat through and cash in when spin goes flat.
• Australia and England: High-grade hundreds earned against smart plans. He uses width well and wears spells when the ball is jagging. These are the entries that analysts clip for seminars.
• Pakistan: The highlights glow. On the big days in multination tournaments, he’s written a few scripts that loop on screens across the subcontinent.

Kohli centuries by venue: where the blade sings

• Wankhede, Pune, Kolkata, Delhi: Home surfaces where he reads pace off the pitch instantly and makes second runs look inevitable.
• Adelaide: The most Kohli of Kohli grounds outside India. Sightlines he loves, bounce he trusts, outfield that gives back what he puts in.
• Chinnaswamy and Mohali: Batting tracks that reward footspeed between wickets—perfect for his “pressure by running” philosophy.
• Neutral venues in the Gulf: Bigger squares, heavy air, value for strike rotation. Kohli’s no-risk accumulation sets up late surges.

Kohli home and away centuries: what the split really says

It’s a trope that Indian batters bulk up at home. Kohli is home-strong, as any great Indian batter must be, but the more interesting revelation is his away stack. Enough hundreds outside India, across formats, to render the home-away debate mostly academic.

• Away hundreds often look more measured early: deeper trigger movement, narrower bat face, near-ascetic patience outside off.
• Once in, the same batter appears: the late hands through extra-cover, the skip to leg against spin, the stride into length when the ball gets old.

Kohli centuries as captain: power through responsibility

Strapping on the armband did not dampen his output; if anything, it refined it. As captain in Tests, he was ruthless about batting the opposition out of the match. As ODI captain, he retained his chase craft while nudging strategies that allowed the top three to squeeze bowling plans.

• His conversion rate in the captaincy phase held elite levels. When Kohli crossed fifty, the dressing room expected a hundred—an expectation he normalized.
• Bowlers benefitted from his long Test hundreds; they returned to the field with plans, time, and scoreboard pressure backing them.

Kohli century conversion rate and innings-per-hundred: the sophisticated lens

It’s easy to say “tons of hundreds.” It’s smarter to ask, “How often did he reach a hundred once he crossed fifty? How many innings did he need for each?”

• Innings per ODI century: ballpark in the low fives—a ridiculous frequency over a long span, not a short purple patch.
• Test frequency: around one every handful of innings that start clean. Once he reset post the drought, the flow returned to normal, and the doubles reappeared.
• 50-to-100 conversion: among modern cricket’s elite. The conversion story matters because it reflects hunger plus skill. Kohli rarely coasted at 70.

The first, the latest, the landmark hundreds

• First ODI century: Against Sri Lanka at Eden Gardens. Classic early-career knock—calm, busy, and built alongside a senior partner who was hoovering up runs at the other end.
• First Test century: At Adelaide, a chiselled 116 that announced a player who could fight for his runs on harder tracks.
• First T20I hundred: A continental event effort against Afghanistan at Dubai—high skill, high tempo, low slog.
• Latest international century: The Wankhede semi-final masterpiece against New Zealand, a one-day innings played like a violin—no wasted notes, all the right themes.
• The iconic high: The 50th ODI hundred. That number, by a contemporary athlete, shifted how future generations will measure success in one-day cricket.

Virat Kohli centuries list by phase (a narrative map)

• Early ascent: The learning curve fell away unusually fast. By the time most top-order batters are still painting the corners of international cricket, Kohli had mapped a method for both new ball and middle overs, and had a clutch of ODI hundreds in safe pockets.
• Prime ODI stretch: The engine purrs at will. Chases feel preordained. Hundreds arrive every few innings. Attacks with new plans watch those plans get folded by basics—play late, run hard, angle the bat, pick the weaker bowler.
• Test consolidation: The conversion switch flips. Hundreds become doubles. The leave outside off gets tighter. The bottom hand softens at the right time. A sequence of massive Test knocks at home sets the tone for an era where India controlled games for days.
• Global tournament glow: Big stages aren’t louder to him; they’re clearer. The semi-final hundred at a historic venue, the World Cup hundreds spaced between chases and first-innings control jobs, and the continental T20I guard-down assault—these are event knocks, not bilateral padding.
• The comeback chapters: After a lean phase that fed too many think pieces, the red ball hundred returned, and the white ball flow followed. The technical adjustments were faint—less bat away from body, more patience for the straight ball early—but the mental reset was loud.

Kohli vs Tendulkar centuries: the honest comparison

• Total international centuries: Tendulkar 100, Kohli 80. The summit still belongs to the original mountain. The pursuit is real, but two truths can live together: Kohli has carried one-day batting into a new era of longevity and ODI possibility; Tendulkar’s record remains Everest.
• ODI hundreds: Kohli 50, Tendulkar 49. Kohli crossed the ODI summit by optimizing the modern one-day chase and maintaining absurd consistency despite fielding restrictions, varied ball types, and more frequent cricket.
• Test hundreds: Tendulkar way ahead, Kohli in the chasing pack with a standout double-century suite as captain.
• Pace to milestones: Kohli is the fastest to many ODI hundreds marks, including the 50th. This matters because it marries efficiency with durability.

Kohli vs Rohit centuries: same galaxy, different stars

Rohit Sharma’s big hundreds are symphonies of timing; Kohli’s are engines of inevitability. Rohit’s conversion when set in ODIs is monstrous; Kohli’s frequency across chases and tournaments is unmatched. It’s less rivalry, more complementary brilliance that lifted India’s ODI batting to generational heights.

Kohli vs Babar, Smith, Root, Williamson: formats draw the lines

• Test frame: Root and Smith have Test hundreds that compete on volume and variety across continents; Williamson’s big match craft whispers class. Kohli sits in the same lounge with a double-century wing that many captains envy.
• ODI frame: Kohli’s ODI hundred stack is the standard. Babar’s method is outstanding and building; Rohit’s volatility produces peak masterpieces; Kohli’s baseline is what terrifies bowlers.

Most international centuries: where Kohli stands

The universal board has a hundred at the top. Kohli owns second place with 80 and the live possibility of adding more. The gap is real, but so is the timeframe. What matters is that he redefined what a modern ODI hundred cadence can look like—and then kept the flame alive in Tests and T20Is.

Virat Kohli centuries by match situation: advanced splits that matter

• First vs second innings in ODIs: The second-innings strength is historic, but don’t miss the first-innings versions where he builds a platform, then detonates in the last ten.
• Powerplay, middle overs, death overs: His hundreds are long conversations with the middle overs. He starves bowlers there, which means the death overs don’t need miracles, just method.
• Batting position: The top-three slot maximized his control of the chase. Arriving early, he absorbs quality new-ball spells, then flips to banker mode.

Virat Kohli centuries by country: the traveling method

• India: An abundance of hundreds, rooted in a reading of slowness, not just flatness. He’s often ahead of the pitch.
• Australia: A Test and ODI hunting ground where bounce, not seam, is the variable. His footwork is shorter, his hands softer.
• England: Cooker conditions—but the best of his innings here are built on a stubborn leave and decisive footwork.
• South Africa and New Zealand: Shorter backlift, tighter shoulder alignment, less flirt outside off. His ODI hundreds here are case studies in discipline before fluency.
• West Indies and Sri Lanka: Big runs, big smiles, fat scorebooks.

Kohli century construction: technical and tactical keys

• Alignment: Head still, shoulders aligned, batting arm close enough to resist wobble seam. He plays late and under the eyes, which helps everywhere.
• Wristwork: Very few internationals use the bottom hand more intelligently. He picks gaps on the on-side without closing the face too early.
• Running: The off-the-ball movement is as important as any shot. He wins matches in the 1-2 transition while fielders are coasting.
• Boundary selection: Kohli doesn’t swing for sixes early unless a matchup screams for it. He takes fours like installments, not jackpots.

The psychological edges behind Kohli hundreds

• Target fixation: Before an innings he often visualizes the “end state” of a chase—the final 30 runs, the bowler he wants at the end. Then he works backwards.
• Micro-goals: He sets mini-chases inside the innings—15 by 5 overs without risk, 30 by 10 with one boundary an over, then cruise.
• Ice in partnerships: The greatest unsung Kohli skill is how calm he keeps partners. Communication is clear, running is telepathic, risks are rationalized in real-time.

The ODI World Cup chapter: why those hundreds rank higher

• Strategy density: World Cups are over-planned. Attacks get detailed scouting reports on Kohli. The fact he still delivered multiple hundreds across editions tells you how robust his method is.
• Knockout composure: In the Mumbai semi, with a billion expectations squeezing the air, he made the situation feel like a quiet bilateral. That is temperament, not coincidence.

Kohli’s place in the “most international centuries” conversation

No active player has a clearer path to chasing down milestones than Kohli. The ODI pile is already historic. The Test tally remains strong with doubles in the archive. Whether he reaches the final summit or not, he has changed the measure of a great white-ball career.

Frequently observed patterns across his hundreds

• Fewer false shots after fifty compared to peers, especially in ODIs.
• Boundary droughts don’t bother him; he builds in tens through running.
• Big-match climbs: Semi-finals, big rivalries, and title bouts bring out an extra layer of control.

Virat Kohli ODI centuries list: milestone highlights

Note: A full, line-by-line ledger is massive and evolves. These are the definitive markers that shaped his ODI arc.

• First: Against Sri Lanka at Eden Gardens—announced his white-ball blueprint.
• Early chase classic: At Hobart, a night that felt like destiny bending. Partnerships melted, run-rate fell, he didn’t blink.
• Continental final ton: Knock that married control and assertion; took the cup by the collar.
• Tournament three-piece: The World Cup sequence—Bangladesh chase, South Africa control job, New Zealand in a roaring semi—peak tournament Kohli.
• The fiftieth: Carved in a match that will live in documentaries, not just databases.

Virat Kohli Test centuries list: major markers

• First away ton: Adelaide. Important not for the number, but for the message: he could corral a moving ball with discipline and score with authority.
• The double-soaked phase: A stretch where every time he got in, a double followed. These were leadership knocks—huge scoreboard pressure, match tempo set, bowlers unleashed.
• The drought-breaker: A long wait ended with a velvet-smooth hundred that restored a normal rhythm. The relief wasn’t just his; it belonged to Indian cricket.

Virat Kohli T20I hundred: the rare jewel

Against Afghanistan in Dubai during a continental event. A knock that blended muscle with mind. Fetching from deep midwicket one ball, dinking over short third the next. A captain’s tempo even without the armband.

How many international centuries does Virat Kohli have?

Eighty. ODI 50, Tests 29, T20I 1.

How many ODI/Test centuries does Virat Kohli have?

ODI: 50. Tests: 29.

Kohli centuries while chasing list: what defines them

The count sits atop the format’s history. These chases have ingredients in common: minimal dot balls, on-demand boundaries against the weakest link, and an absolute refusal to panic as the equation ebbs and flows.

Virat Kohli 200s list (Tests): why they mattered to the team

They weren’t personal crusades. They were plans: bat once, press the game flat, let four bowlers attack in waves. Each double gave the attack time and the pitch a chance to evolve.

Kohli century conversion rate: the take-home

He turns fifties into hundreds at a rate that separates legends from stat-accumulators. It’s not the final number alone; it’s the journey from 50 to 100 with almost no loose gifting of wickets.

Innings per century Virat Kohli: a quick sense check

• ODI: approximately one century every few innings—astonishing consistency in a high-variance format.
• Tests: a steady drumbeat; the doubles skew the quality of the set beyond mere totals.

Kohli Asia Cup centuries

A body of work that includes a trailblazing masterclass against Pakistan and a latter-day epic at Dubai. Different eras, same command.

Kohli knockouts centuries

The semi-final hundred at Mumbai is the calling card. On loud nights, his game finds silence.

Virat Kohli centuries at venues fans care about

• Kolkata: The first steps into big-list batting. He understands the Eden outfield and angles like a local.
• Mumbai: The grand stage where one of his most seismic ODI hundreds unfolded.
• Delhi: Home comfort, precise angles, the feeling of playing on muscle memory.
• Pune: An ODI century in a controlled chase that could be taught in academies.
• Adelaide: A love story with bounce and sightlines; his Test hundreds here parse as textbooks on timing and temperament.

Smart comparisons: pace to fifty, the ODI century factory

Fastest to 50 ODI centuries is a badge you don’t get by accident. It indicates two things most players never combine at once—longevity and uptime. Kohli had both. He banked hundreds every handful of innings during his prime and then kept standards when others would naturally slide.

Why this matters to coaches, analysts, and editors

• Coaches: This is the blueprint to teach sustainable white-ball hundreds. Show younger players how he buys time early and wins over after over with running.
• Analysts: The advanced splits—chase frequency, powerplay risk, middle-over control—should inform how teams set fields and bowlers against him.
• Editors: When you frame Kohli’s hundreds, contextualize them: opposition quality, event stage, and match result. He’s a story engine; set him in the right scene.

Frequently asked questions (expert, concise)

– How many international centuries does Virat Kohli have?
80. ODI 50, Tests 29, T20I 1.

– Which was Virat Kohli’s first international century?
ODI vs Sri Lanka at Eden Gardens; Test at Adelaide vs Australia; T20I vs Afghanistan at Dubai.

– What is Virat Kohli’s latest international century?
An ODI hundred in the global tournament semi-final at Wankhede against New Zealand.

– How many ODI centuries does Kohli have while chasing?
He holds the all-time record. The tally is the benchmark for batting-second hundreds.

– How many double centuries does Virat Kohli have in Tests?
Seven.

– Has Kohli scored a century in ICC tournaments?
Yes—multiple ODI World Cup hundreds and a T20I century in a continental event.

– Where has Kohli scored the most ODI centuries by opposition?
Sri Lanka lead the list, followed by West Indies, with Australia and England as high-quality conquests.

– Kohli vs Tendulkar centuries—who leads where?
Overall: Tendulkar leads. ODIs: Kohli leads. Tests: Tendulkar leads. T20I: Kohli has one; Tendulkar none.

– What is Virat Kohli’s 50th ODI century significance?
It set a new bar for ODI batting longevity and consistency, achieved at elite pace.

– How many World Cup centuries does Kohli have?
Five.

Compact tables for quick reference

Format-wise tallies

ODI key splits (high-level)

Test key splits

World tournament summary

Why Kohli’s hundreds will age well

Some records look smaller as the game evolves. Kohli’s will likely grow with time because they are built on techniques and principles that survive rule changes and tactical fads. The speed-to-50 in ODIs, the mountain of chasing hundreds, and the bank of Test doubles as captain are not just marks of excellence—they’re templates. Coaching curriculums are already borrowing them. Young pros talk about his middle-over method the way batters once spoke about the high-elbow cover drive of an earlier era.

A word on sustainability and the road ahead

Kohli’s batting has been built to travel into later seasons: compact backlift, fitness that frees scoring patterns, a risk profile that does not need boundary bingeing to stay ahead of rate. The ODI hundred engine remains viable as long as he keeps arriving in the top three. In Tests, the doubles told us his concentration economy is premium. If he keeps the body in tune, more red-ball hundreds stay on the table.

Closing thoughts: the Kohli hundred you don’t see on the card

You see a three-digit number. What you don’t see is the calibration that got him there—the leaves that saved him later, the single that pulled midwicket wider and freed extra-cover, the mid-innings chat with a partner that cooled a boiling spell. Virat Kohli’s international centuries live at the intersection of skill and sanity. That’s why they feel inevitable without feeling easy. That’s why they stand up to the best attacks, under the brightest lights, for the longest time.

As of this update, the scoreboard reads 80. The story, famously, is still in motion.