The ball was wide on off stump, it was short, Virat Kohli was on 97, he waited on the backfoot, allowed the ball to come and then thrashed it away past point. Jos Buttler ran across, slid, missed the ball, and Kohli leapt, clenched fists pumping all over the place, an exult, and then out came that ring, that very marriage ring, he held it, kissed it and gestured towards the dressing room. It was for his wife, who according to him has calmed him down.
This innings will probably go down as one of the best the skipper has played in whites. The conditions were overcast, the ball was hooping around corners, the other batsmen kept faltering, kept tripping, and kept heading back to the pavilion.
Kohli withstood Anderson’s testing spells and kept his focus after being dropped on 21 and 50 (off Anderson and Ben Stokes) as he went past his previous best score in England of 39.
The Indian skipper held firm as wickets fell at the other end, finally slapping a Ben Stokes delivery past backward point for his 14th boundary to reach his century in the company of last man Umesh Yadav in the final session of play on Day 2.
Kohli patiently negotiated swing and seam movement to reach fifty off 100 deliveries with nine fours before opening up with fine placements and fluent shots as the England bowlers began to tire after tea on the second day.
He added 41 runs with Ajinkya Rahane for the fourth wickets and 48 with Hardik Pandya for the sixth before batting with the tail-enders to reach his milestone. There was anxiety after India were reduced to 217/9, but Kohli capped his brilliant knock.
India are still behind in the Test, but the captain has done more than his bit to keep them in with a chance.
