Ahead of his team’s ODI World Cup 2023 match against Sri Lanka, star India batter Virat Kohli has admitted he had never thought he would go on to score so many hundreds and tons of runs for his country in international cricket.
The Rohit Sharma led side has won six out of six matches in the ongoing ODI World Cup so far and they take on Sri Lanka in their next encounter in Mumbai on Thursday.
The focus will be on chase master Virat Kohli, who is on the brink of equalling master-blaster Sachin Tendulkar’s world record for the highest number of centuries scored in ODI cricket.
There are a couple of conducive factors for King Kohli to achieve this feat in Mumbai. One being the fact that Kohli has scored more centuries against Sri Lanka as compared to any other team in world cricket. Secondly, it would be special to equal the “God of Cricket” in his home ground at the Wankhede Stadium, where Sachin has played all his cricket.
Notably, Tendulkar smashed 49 ODI centuries and overall recorded a tally of 100 tons across all formats in his international career while Virat has brought up 48 hundreds in the 50-over cricket.
Speaking to Star Sports, Virat spoke on how his career has panned out, and what his focus has been through the entirety of it.
“If we talk about cricket, I had never thought of achieving it all, as in where my career is and how god has blessed me with such a career span and performances.
I had always dreamt I’d do this, but I had never thought things would pan out this way exactly, nobody can plan these things, the way your journey is going, and the way things unfold in front of you. I hadn’t thought that I’d score so many hundreds and so many runs in these 12 years,” the former India skipper said.
The 34-year-also highlighted what his focus has been through the span of his career.
“My only focus was that I should perform well for the team, and win games for the team from difficult situations. For that I made quite a few changes along the way regarding discipline and lifestyle. I always had the drive in me, but I lacked the professionalism. Now I have a single-minded focus on how I want to play the game, and after that the results I’ve achieved is from playing that way itself,” said Kohli.
“The game recognises effort. Honestly that’s what I have learnt from my career. I’ve played cricket by giving my hundred percent on the field, and the blessings I have got from it have been given to me by God, and I had never thought things would have unfolded this way,” he concluded.