Kohli proves his point with emphatic century

Virat Kohli insisted earlier this week he had no point to prove on British soil, but the India captain made an emphatic one anyway in his first knock of the five-Test series against England.

"I'm not in a frame of mind to prove myself in any country," Kohli said on Tuesday. "Back in the day when I did not know better, these things used to bother me because I used to read a lot. But I don't read anything (anymore)."

Having struggled against the moving ball on India's last visit to the United Kingdom four years ago, the 29-year-old has since risen to become the world's most dynamic batsmen across all formats.

But his ability to counter England's unique home conditions, which Kohli could muster only 134 runs from 10 innings in during the 2014 tour, remains the only real question mark on a batting record largely devoid of major blots.

He went some way to answering that question on Thursday.

In the space of two-and-a-bit sessions, the most scrutinised cricketer on the planet piled on more than half his side's runs and 15 more than his entire 2014 series total.

"Up against some brilliant bowling, in difficult conditions, with the ball swinging, he fought it out and played a great innings for his team, keeping them in this game," former England captain Michael Atherton wrote in his column for Sky Sports.

"Kohli battled through, as great players do, and now has a very cherished first Test ton in England.

"It gets that monkey off his back, that question over whether he can perform in England - a top score of 39 before today - and what a time to do it!"

Kohli arrived at the crease in the midst of a damaging spell from impressive young quick Sam Curran, who took three wickets in eight balls as he found sharp movement that had eluded more credentialed pacemen Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad with the new ball.

It could have been a much different tale had Dawid Malan not shelled two chances off Kohli on 21 and 51.

But with no other Indian managing more than 26, Kohli put on 92 for the final two wickets – tailenders Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav contributing six runs between them – in a splendid rearguard.

The skipper now has hundreds in all seven of the Test 'nations' (counting West Indies as a single 'country' for statistical purposes) he's played in more than once.

"At one stage we were staring down the barrel, and the gap was huge, but because of his brilliance, and the commitment shown by the batsmen around him, it's still even stevens for both sides," India batting coach Sanjay Bangar said.

"He showed terrific discipline, I felt. At no instance did he reach out for the ball."

Curran (4-74 from 17 overs) put on the finest performance of his short Test career but admitted England had few answer's for Kohli's brilliance.  

"Credit to a great innings there," said Curran. "I'm only in my second game, but I think it was a little eye-opener watching the way he bats and how precise you've got to be."