‘Leaving Test cricket has liberated him’: Former India batter on Kohli’s 55th ODI ton

Virat Kohli recorded one of his fastest ODI centuries against West Indies on Sunday. (KCA)

Virat Kohli produced one of his most aggressive ODI centuries on Sunday, obliterating the West Indies with a rapid century in a 296-run chase in Thiruvananthapuram.

Kohli stormed his way through the chase and never looked in trouble as he relied on an improve range of six-hitting, smashing nine maximums on his way to an unbeaten 139 off only 88 deliveries. The former India captain got to his hundred in only 74 deliveries while also crossing the landmark of becoming the fastest batter to reach 15,000 ODI runs, eclipsing Sachin Tendulkar.

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Kohli’s aggressive suit ensured that his nine sixes were the highest he had ever struck in an ODI innings across 18 years. Former India opener Aakash Chopra heaped praise on the 37-year-old Kohli’s ODI batting senses. Chopra opined that quitting Test cricket has allowed Kohli to unlock a new level in white-ball batting.

Kohli had called time on his red-ball career in mid-2025, hanging up his career in whites with 9230 runs and 30 Test hundreds for India.

“Leaving Test cricket has just liberated him. There’s a lot more clarity in mind that this is the format that I play and this is how I want to play it. Test cricket demanded something else. And therefore, he had to always keep switching between the two formats, or rather three formats he was playing. But now it’s only ODI for India. It’s only T20 for RCB. He knows that I can actually go and enjoy batting. This is sheer enjoyment,” Chopra said on Cricinfo.

Kohli leads the ODI run-getters since 2025, smashing the most centuries among all batters (five in 20 innings) in the period.

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“How do you actually motivate yourself at this stage of your career where you’ve achieved everything that there is to be achieved? You keep upping the bar for yourself that the challenge is not coming from outside. Can I do this? Can I go there? The uncharted territory? I’ve not done this. Will it excite me now? I think that’s the kind of approach we see with Virat Kohli, which is, of course, refreshing,” Chopra added.

With his 60th List A century, Kohli also equalled Tendulkar for most tons in the 50-over format on Sunday.