When ex-India captain Virat Kohli met UK Queen Elizabeth II before 2019 Cricket World Cup

United Kingdom's longest-running monarch, Queen Elizabeth II passed away on Thursday, September 8 at her royal residence in Balmoral. She served as Queen of England for 70 years before she died at the age of 96. Following her demise, condolences poured in from all over the world, including from India, where cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were among those who expressed their grief.

Incidentally, the news of Queen's demise came just hours after former India captain Virat Kohli scored his maiden T20I century and his first three-digit score since 2019. Kohli scored a magnificent 122 off 61 balls against Afghanistan in their last game of the ongoing Asia Cup. Let's take a look at the time when Kohli met the Queen in England during the 2019 Cricket World Cup.   

When Virat Kohli met Queen Elizabeth

Kohli got the chance to meet Queen Elizabeth II ahead of the start of the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2019. Captains of all participating teams were invited to Buckingham Palace for a meeting with the Queen of England, where the tournament was being held at the time. After the meeting, Kohli took to his official Instagram handle to share a few pictures with the Queen. 

"It was an honour meeting Her Majesty the Queen and Prince Harry at Buckingham Palace yesterday. @theroyalfamily," Kohli wrote in the caption of the post. The 33-year-old also met Prince Harry during his visit to Buckingham Palace. 

Kohli scores 71st century after 1021 days

Kohli ended his three-year-long century drought on Thursday as he scored an unbeaten 122 runs against Afghanistan to bring up his 71st international hundred. With his 71st century, Kohli has now equalled the record of former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting's mark of 71 international centuries. Only Sachin Tendulkar (100) has more international centuries than Kohli and Ponting. Kohli reached the milestone of 71 international centuries in just 522 innings, which is the fastest among the three greats.

As of 2022, Kohli has the most number of international centuries for an active player. He has also become the seventh cricketer and third Indian in the history of the game to score more than 24,000 international runs. 

Image: Instagram/ViratKohli