Virat Kohli Nears Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting; Marks 35th Birthday With Massive All-time World Cup Record

Virat Kohli achieved a massive feat on his 35th birthday at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, against South Africa, becoming the third-highest run-scorer in the history of the ODI World Cup. Kohli surpassed Sri Lanka legend Kumar Sangakkara and jumped to third place in the all-time highest run scorers list. Sangakkara had scored 1532 runs in the tournament donning Sri Lanka colours, but Kohli went past him on Sunday with yet another special knock on a special occasion.

To mark his 35th birthday, Virat surpassed numerous milestones, he surged past Sangakkara and is nearly 200 runs shy of Ponting’s tally. The former Australian skipper had scored 1743 runs in the World Cup, while the legendary Sachin Tendulkar comfortably sits at the top of the pile having smashed 2278 runs in the World Cup.

Virat Kohli is also chasing Sachin Tendulkar’s all-time record of 49 centuries in ODI format, he came close to achieving the illustrious feat in Wankhede against Sri Lanka but was dismissed on 88.

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The former Indian captain had brought up his 48th ODI century earlier in the tournament against Bangladesh, but he has recorded scores of 95, 0 and 88 since as the wait to equal Sachin’s massive record continues.

Also, courtesy of his fifty against South Africa, Virat crossed the 500-run mark during the ongoing ODI World Cup 2023, becoming the first Asian batter and only the third overall batsman to surpass the mark after Quinton de Kock and Rachin Ravindra.

It was a day full of records for Virat Kohli who became the batter with the second-most fifty-plus scores in ODI history (119), behind the legendary Little Master himself.

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Earlier on Sunday, skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to bat first, after which the Hitman smashed a quickfire 40-run knock in just 24 balls giving India an ideal start.

Shubman Gill was dismissed on 23, but Shreyas Iyer and Kohli joined hands as their century stand put South Africa under pressure. Iyer’s knock of 77 runs helped India past the 200-run mark as the Men in Blue looked to build towards the 300-run total.