Mumbai: Virat Kohli bowed to Sachin Tendulkar after breaking the latter’s record of 49th ODI hundred on Wednesday against New Zealand in the ODI World Cup 2023 semifinal at the Wankhede Stadium, the video of which went viral on social media. Kohli became the first batter in the history of the game to score 50 ODI centuries. Kohli reached the landmark when he worked Kiwis pacer Lockie Ferguson to square leg for a double, moving from 98 to 100.
Congratulations 50 century King kohli pic.twitter.com/n6IpTOppD5
— Urmila Thami (@thami_urmila) November 15, 2023
Kohli, a man with impeccable sense of occasion, achieved the milestone at the Wankhede Stadium with the legendary Tendulkar himself in attendance. The whole heft of the achievement was magnified by the fact that November 15 also was the last time Tendulkar batted in international match for India, a Test against the West Indies at this venue.
During his innings, Kohli also became the highest scorer in a single edition of a World Cup, surpassing Tendulkar (673 runs in 2003). Kohli also became the highest run-getter of this tournament, eclipsing South Africa’s Quinton de Kock (591), followed by New Zealand’s Rachin Ravindra (565).
On Wednesday, Kohli scored his 72nd ODI half-century and eighth of the ongoing World Cup to record the most 50-plus scores in a World Cup edition, surpassing Tendulkar and Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan, who had scored seven fifties each in the 2003 and 2019 editions respectively.
Big match
Big occasion
..and a Spectacular Virat Kohli TON!WHAT. A. PLAYER #TeamIndia | #CWC23 | #MenInBlue | #INDvNZ pic.twitter.com/Y1PANCpBgi
— BCCI (@BCCI) November 15, 2023
Kohli is also placed in the third spot in the list of most runs in ODIs. Tendulkar with 18,426 runs tops the list, followed by Kumar Sangakkara (14,234). Kohli bettered Ricky Ponting (13,704) to take the third spot. Kohli is also third in the list of most 50-plus scores in international cricket headed by Tendulkar (264) and followed by Ponting (217). Kohli has 217.