India skipper Virat Kohli is known to be extremely passionate about representing the country. Even though he does take one-off breaks to ensure that his body gets some well-deserved rest, Kohli believes in giving it his 100 per cent every time he takes the field. On Sunday, he once again reiterated the same and said that he didn’t wish to put the foot off the pedal even once as he takes pride in representing the country and wished to do so with aplomb.

“I have a few years left in my career to enjoy this sport. Playing for the country is a matter of pride and a huge honour. You can’t afford to take any game lightly. You got to be honest to the sport and that is when the sport gives you back. I try to do that. That’s my basic thinking, because you are playing for India and not everyone gets to do that,” he said.

Kohli walks out to bat, Kohli scores a century and Kohli breaks another record. Well, this has been the template that the Indian skipper has followed in recent times. Such is the hunger to score runs and win matches for his side that Kohli has made it a regular habit to not only breach records, but to sprint past them.

It was no different in the first ODI against West Indies in Guwahati. The visitors put in a much-improved performance with the bat and on the back of a blazing century by Shimron Hetmyer posted 322.

India did not get off to a great start as they lost Shikhar Dhawan in only the second over. However, it set the stage for Virat Kohli, who sauntered out, took guard and scythed the Windies attack all over the place. Crunching boundaries off the front foot and then off the backfoot, the Indian captain looked switched on right from the word go.

No deft touches, no dinky glances, but Kohli was at his best as he looked to wander down the track and meet the ball on the up to play his strokes. He literally walked past 50, but then he flicked on a switch and in almost cruise control mode kept accumulating runs against a bowling attack which wilted away.

On the fifth ball of the 27th over, Kohli creamed a square drive and notched up his 36th ODI century. It was also his 60th International ton and in the process, became the fastest player to this milestone.

He got to his 60th ton in 386 innings and is well clear of Sachin Tendulkar who took 427 innings to achieve the same feat.

First Published: Oct 22, 2018 09:23 IST