Indian cricketer Virat Kohli completed his much-awaited 49th ODI century on his 35th birthday. With that century, Kohli equalled the Indian legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar’s record for the most ODI centuries.
It was the 37th game at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023, where the hosts India faced South Africa at Kolkata. Both teams are the most successful in this tournament. While India won all seven previous matches, the Proteas won six out of the first seven games, except for a stunning defeat against the Netherlands.
In the India vs South Africa match, Indian captain Rohit Sharma chose to bat first after winning the toss. Opener Rohit provided a powerful start with 40 runs in 24 balls as it set up a solid foundation for the home batting line-up on the tough batting pitch.
Virat Kohli recorded 49th ODI century
After the skipper was dismissed, the former Indian captain Virat Kohli came to bat on his 35th birthday. On his special day, Kohli produced a solid batting performance to set up a huge first batting total for India.
Kohli also had a calm and solid 134-run partnership for the third wicket with Shreyas Iyer. While Iyer scored 77 runs in 87 balls with seven fours and two sixes, Kohli continued his solid batting performance until the end of the innings.
The right-handed batter Kohli scored his first 50 runs in 67 balls, while he completed his 49th ODI century in 119 balls. He finally remained not out in 101 runs in 121 balls with the help of 10 fours. With the crucial late cameos from Suryakumar Yadav (22) and Ravindra Jadeja (29*), India ultimately scored 326/5 in 50 overs.
In reply, South Africa were bundled out for only 83 runs in 27.1 overs, where Ravindra Jadeja claimed a fifer (5/33), while Mohammed Shami (2/18) and Kuldeep Yadav (2/7) both bagged two wickets each. India won that match by 243 runs.
Most ODI hundreds: Virat Kohli leveled Sachin Tendulkar’s 49 ODI centuries record
Returning to Kohli’s 49th ODI century on his 35th birthday, he equalled the record for most ODI centuries. Legendary Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar previously held the record alone with 49 ODI hundreds. Now, Kohli joined him with 49 centuries in his ODI career.
Meanwhile, the second most international centurion Kohli has stretched his international hundreds record to 79, just 21 centuries behind legendary Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar’s 100 international centuries record.
