India, Jan. 13 -- Virat Kohli has 84 international hundreds, a number that already lives in the rare air. But there is a cleaner way to measure how close he has been to the sport's most mythic batting landmark: 100 international centuries.

It sits inside one bucket of evidence - the 12 times Kohli has finished in 90s (90-99) in international cricket, nine dismissals and three not-outs.

If each of those 12 innings had crossed the three figures, Kohli's century tally wouldn't read 84. It would read 96. Same career, came oppositions, same ears - just 12 scorecards where "almost" turns into "hundred".

This isn't a case of the 90s haunting him every other week. Twelve 90s across 624 international innings is roughly one nervous nineties fini...