The 'locket tale' of Kohli's away hundreds

Virat Kohli dedicates Edgbaston century to wife Anushka Sharma. “A man in love celebrates a hundred,” Harsha Bhogle said during the innings break as visuals of Kohli’s locket-kiss – his way of portraying love to his wife Anushka Sharma – played in the background.

“A man in love celebrates a hundred,” Harsha Bhogle said during the innings break as visuals of Kohli’s locket-kiss – his way of portraying love to his wife Anushka Sharma – played in the background.

No doubt Kohli is in love. Certainly, with his wife and dare we say, slightly more with batting. But the captain tries his best to maintain a balance. While his cover drives and flicks become a highlight in the sports pages, a warm gesture for his wife more often than not finds a mention inside it.

There’s something about Virat Kohli and his locket-kiss celebrations. The first time the world saw it was when Kohli single-handedly drove India past 300 in testing conditions in Centurion, South Africa scoring a 153 (49% of the team total) off just 217 balls in January this year.

Seven months later, India again had their backs to the wall on foreign soil, losing half their side for 100, trailing England by 187 runs, when Kohli got together with the lower half of the Indian batting line-up, scoring 128 runs off the next 174 runs to carry India within touching distance of the England first innings total. After all this, Kohli still remembered to kiss his locket after reaching his 22nd Test ton, his first in England.

What’s so special about the locket?

That’s no ordinary locket mind you. The pendant in it is the wedding ring of Kohli. And for it to come in public, it needs a special innings like the one in Edgbaston last night. Kohli scored 53% of India’s runs (149 among 274) – the second highest contribution by an Indian captain after Dhoni’s 82 (55%) in Oval in 2014.

@AnushkaSharma encouraging King @imVkohli for 149 🔥💝👌 .#couplesgoals pic.twitter.com/RUSlG7fdod

— Raaj STR ♔ (@rajstr686) August 2, 2018

Anushka’s reaction

Unlike most matches, where one of the cameras always keeps an eye on her, Anushka was shown only once during the day’s play and that was when Kohli was walking out after scoring 149 to rapturous applause. The smile on Anushka’s face said it all. It had the glow of a pride wife and an assurance that the runs were more important than the locket-kiss gesture.