A moment of hesitation and confusion, and then finally Virat Kohli raised the bat—a known frame, but with a way gentler smile. A not so Virat Kohli-like innings, but yet a century for a struggling "legend" indeed means a lot. It's his 81st international century that came in the moment of urgency. The dugout had its players waiting to declare, captain Bumrah throwing off his armguard and walking ahead with Rishabh Pant pulling him back, Nitish Reddy hitting at 140 strike rate—a perfect backdrop that they are waiting for the former captain to touch 100. Nitish Reddy, who was hitting, was still blocking, trying to give the strike to Kohli. At one point, he called for two runs, but Kohli denied, which is totally unusual of him. But it finally came- off Marnus Labuschangne's over, a full-length ball that landed flat, just outside leg. Kohli sat on his knees and swept it in the gap between deep fine and deep backward square leg. Pat Cummins, who was guarding the square leg, came running and dived. He had almost saved the boundary, but the ball deflected slowly, moving towards the boundary, just kissing the rope. He's back! Virat Kohli hits his 30th Test ton!#AUSvIND | #PlayOfTheDay | @nrmainsurance pic.twitter.com/X6P7RnajnX — cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) November 24, 2024 Virat Kohli's 80th international century came in November 2023 during an ODI match against New Zealand. His last test century came against the West Indies in Trinidad back in 2023. Virat Kohli, who seemingly had a bossom relationship with the Australian pitches, had a good day in Perth in 2018, when he scored 123 runs in the first inning. A controversial Perth pitch that changed with sessions made a few commentators taunting him to "at least" score here. And he seemed to hear them from the pitch! Read: Sajnay Manjrekar's Checky Dig at Virat Kohli's Bad Form Phew to critics! Controversies broke out after Ricky Ponting questioned Kohli's place in the team, while head coach Gautam Gambhir bluntly supported him. Day 3 BGT saw the Perth crowd giving a "struggling" and "finished" Virat Kohli a standing ovation, with the Aussie great Adam Gilchrist came running towards him to give a hug. A drought that ended after 15 months got Kohli emotional. As Mark Howard was repeatedly telling during his commentary, people forget he is a "man," and he has the right to go through this stage. Nevertheless, while leaving, he made clear what the century means to him. A gesture of flying kiss towars his wife had clarifications too: "I take pride in performing for my country. The fact that she is here makes it even more special for me." And to critics, a softer version than the 2014-15 version, yet firm Kohli said, "Yeah, Anushka has been right by my side through thick and thin. So, she knows everything that goes on behind the scenes. What goes on in the head when you don’t play as well or make a few mistakes. I just want to contribute to the team’s cause, I am not a guy who wants to hang around just for the sake of it." At the end of Day 3, India already took 3 wickets, with Bumrah taking 2 and Siraj taking one of Pat Cummins. Australia scored 12 runs, trailing by a huge margin of 522 runs.