<div><b><span style="font-size: 1rem;">India's superstar cricketer Virat Kohli hit his first Test century since November 2019, ending his long drought on day four of the fourth Test against Australia on Sunday.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>"King Kohli" reached his 28th Test hundred off 241 balls with a single off Nathan Lyon, sparking wild celebrations at the world's biggest cricket stadium in Ahmedabad.</div><div><br></div><div>Appearing to tear up, he acknowledged the crowd and the dressing room before kissing the locket on his gold chain as he smiled and looked up to the sky.</div><div><br></div><div>Commentator Ravi Shastri screamed, "a 600-kilo gorilla is off his back. He will grow a couple of inches taller by this evening".</div><div><br></div><div>A placard in the crowd read "Here to see King Kohli ruling in his kingdom" as children in India shirts bowed in respect.</div><div><br></div><div>The star batsman resumed on his overnight score of 59 after he got his first Test half-century since January 2022 on day three on a pitch favouring the batsmen.</div><div><br></div><div>Kohli, 34, went through an extended lean patch last year, failing to reach three figures in more than 1,000 days.</div><div><br></div><div>He quit as Twenty20 skipper in late 2021 and in January 2022 was sacked from the one-day captaincy and gave up leading the Test side, too.</div><div><br></div><div>But he hit his first ton after 1,020 days in the Asia Cup T20 tournament in September last year and hasn't looked back since.</div><div><br></div><div>Kohli finished the T20 World Cup in Australia as the leading run-scorer and then hit three ODI centuries, including two -- 113 and 166 not out -- against Sri Lanka in January.</div><div><br></div><div>The former captain has a Test average of more than 48 in 108 matches since making his debut in 2011 and has struck 75 centuries across the three international formats.</div><div><br></div><div>Kohli remains behind Australia stand-in-skipper Steve Smith and England's Joe Root in the number of Test centuries between the "fabulous four" -- the leading four batsmen of the modern era.</div><div><br></div><div>Smith overtook Kohli during the Indian batsman's lean phase and now has 30 Test centuries since his previous 95th Test. Root has 29.</div><div><br></div><div>New Zealand batsman Kane Williamson has 26 Test tons.</div><div><br></div><div>Kohli's previous Test hundred came against Bangladesh in what was the first day-night Test in India. Source: AFP</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>