NEW DELHI: Virat Kohli on Wednesday achieved a milestone that no one has reached before – his 50th century in ODIs. The Indian cricket sensation, without a doubt, has secured a place on this summit that seems unlikely to be surpassed in the foreseeable future.
During the World Cup semifinals against New Zealand in Mumbai, Kohli's century propelled him beyond his cricketing idol Sachin Tendulkar. Tendulkar had held the record for the most ODI centuries with 49 to his name.
It's worth noting that Tendulkar might have experienced a sense of satisfaction witnessing his successor surpass him, especially considering that the batting maestro had encouraged Kohli not to delay in reaching this remarkable milestone.
After Kohli reached his 49th ODI hundred against South Africa in Kolkata, Tendulkar took to X (formerly Twitter) to wish the Delhiite.
"Well played Virat. It took me 365 days to go from 49 to 50 earlier this year. I hope you go from 49 to 50 and break my record in the next few days," Tendulkar had written then.
Kohli did precisely that on this day in Tendulkar's home ground.
Here is a stat-crunch from India's innings:
50: Kohli is now the only batsman to have 50 hundreds in ODI cricket. Among the active cricketers, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma tails him at 31.5: This was Kohli's 5th hundred in World Cup, going equal with Kumar Sangakkara and Ricky Ponting. Rohit leads the list with seven centuries.3: This the first time 3 players from same team score more than 500 runs in World Cup: Kohli, Shreyas, Rohit.711: Kohli is now the highest run-getter in this World Cup. He is the only batsman to score more than 700 runs in the showpiece. The previous best was Tendulkar's 673 in 2003 World Cup.(With PTI inputs)
