In the last few matches, Kohli missed out on his century by some margin but now on his special day, he enthralled the Kolkata crowd with his big hits and exquisite shots and brought up his 49th ODI century to equal the great Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 49 centuries.
Kolkata: Virat Kohli lit the Eden Gardens up on Sunday in Kolkata as the ‘King’ of world cricket slammed a glorious hundred on his 35th birthday in an ICC World Cup 2023 match against South Africa.
In the last few matches, Kohli missed out on his century by some margin but now on his special day, he enthralled the Kolkata crowd with his big hits and exquisite shots and brought up his 49th ODI century to equal the great Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 49 centuries. As of now, Virat has a total of 79 international hundreds to his name and sits in the second position in the all-time list behind Tendulkar.
The Royal Challengers Bangalore man brought up his 100 in 119 balls and hit 10 fours on his way to the 3-digit score.
GOAT AT THE TOP…..!!!! pic.twitter.com/1SkK8lfBMT
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) November 5, 2023
Continuing with his high-risk game, Rohit Sharma gave India a flourishing start but South Africa pegged the hosts back by removing the captain and his opening partner Shubman Gill.
The only player who deserves to equal the God of cricket has done it at Eden Gardens.
Take a bow, King Kohli 🐐 pic.twitter.com/0AQzEBWay6
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) November 5, 2023
Rohit hit a 24-ball 40 and shared a 62-run opening partnership with Shubman Gill (23) but the Proteas left them fighting at 105 for two after 15 overs. The flurry of shots from Rohit’s bat saw India complete 50 runs in just 4.3 overs as the skipper smashed two sixes and six boundaries during his entertaining innings.
However, Rohit could not build on the solid start with pacer Kagiso Rabada taking his wicket. Temba Bavuma hung on to a fast-travelling shot after Rohit could not get enough elevation to clear the fielder at mid-off.
Fastest to complete 49 hundreds in ODIs:
Virat Kohli – 277* innings.
Sachin Tendulkar – 451 innings. pic.twitter.com/6gHoXeyUIE
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) November 5, 2023
The Proteas skipper swooped to his right to take a great catch.
Gill departed soon, flummoxed by a superb delivery from spinner Keshav Maharaj in the 11th over, which landed just outside leg, turned slightly to beat the young batting sensation and clip the bails.
WHAT A FRAME…!!!
KING KOHLI WITH NO.49. pic.twitter.com/mxJFjQ1Gdn
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) November 5, 2023
On came Kohli and Shreyas Iyer to the crease and led the charge for the home side with a 100-run partnership. Iyer had to depart later on after scoring a solid 87-ball 77. He miscued his shot and skied it high up in the air before Aiden Markram grabbed hold of a routine catch. KL Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav scored 8 and 22 respectively before they were sent back to the pavilion.
Ravindra Jadeja was the last man at the crease with Kohli. He scored 29 off 15 balls. India finally finished on 327/5 after 50 overs of play and the former India captain left the field with a score of 101.