On his 35th birthday, Virat Kohli has emulated the great Sachin Tendulkar by peeling off a record-equalling 49th century of his storied ODI career.
Kohli, reached the milestone during an ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 contest between India and South Africa at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Sunday evening.
Also Read: All of Virat Kohli’s 49 ODI Centuries Revisited
Incredibly, while Tendulkar’s 49th ODI hundred came in his 451st innings of career, Kohli reached there in just 277 innings.
Kohli got to the milestone in the 49th over of Indian innings, off the 119th delivery he faced, with a single.
He now jointly occupies the top spot in the list of most century-makers in ODI history alongside Tendulkar.
Also Read: A Statistical Breakdown of Kohli’s 49 ODI Centuries
Overall, Kohli has now 79 centuries in his international career and is second behind Tendulkar who remains the only batter in history to have touched the milestone of 100 tons at the top level.
It was a typical Kohli knock as he batted deep with others around him playing their shots on what was a slow pitch. India made a blazing start through Rohit Sharma (40 off 24) before two quick blows dented them.
“It was a wicket that was tricky to bat on, we got a great start from Rohit and Shubman (Gill), my job was to keep it going on. The ball started gripping and turning, it slowed down and then my role was to bat deep. That was what was communicated to me by the team management,” Kohli told broadcasters during a mid-innings chat.
He remained unbeaten on 101 off 121, an innings that featured 10 fours as India posted a challenging 326/5 in 50 overs thanks to a late injection from Ravindra Jadeja who struck 15-ball 29*.
“The pitch is on the slower side, we have a quality bowling line-up as well, but we’ll have to work hard. Wickets will be the key, getting a couple early will put them under pressure with the way this pitch is behaving,” Kohli said.
Both India and South Africa have already qualified for the world cup 2023 semi-finals.
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