Continuing his brilliant form, star India batter Virat Kohli on Wednesday smashed the historic 50th ODI hundred and surpassed legendary Sachin Tendulkar during his side’s World Cup 2023 semifinal against New Zealand at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
Kohli reached the remarkable landmark in front of his cricketing idol at the same venue where he carried the great Tendulkar on his shoulders after the 2011 World Cup triumph.
The 35-year-old whipped a Lockie Ferguson ball to deep backward square leg and came back for the second to achieve the milestone. He jumped and punched the air in delight after his century.
His helmet came off and he raised his hands before bowing down to Sachin, who in reply, stood and applauded Kohli’s knock.
Most ODI hundreds:
50 – Virat Kohli
49 – Sachin Tendulkar
31 – Rohit Sharma
30 – Ricky Ponting
28 – Sanath Jayasuriya
During his century knock, Kohli also broke Tendulkar’s record for most runs in an ODI World Cup. Virat went past Sachin’s mark of 673 runs, achieved in the 2003 edition of the World Cup.
Most runs in an ODI World Cup
Virat Kohli (IND) – 701 (2023)
Sachin Tendulkar (IND) – 673 (2003)
Matthew Hayden (AUS) – 659 (2007)
Rohit Sharma (IND) – 648 (2019)
David Warner (AUS) – 647 (2019)
This was also Kohli’s eighth’s half-century of the ongoing World Cup, the most any batter has ever managed in a single edition of the tournament. He broke the record of seven fifty+ knocks, previously jointly held by Sachin (2003) and Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan (2019).
Earlier, India won the toss and opted to bat first in the highly anticipated match. The game is a replay of the first semifinal from the 2019 edition of the World Cup where the Kane Williamson-led side beat India in England.
Both sides were unchanged for the semi-final and the onus is on their big stars to shine in an all-important clash.
Playing XIs:
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj.
New Zealand: Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra, Kane Williamson (c), Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (wk), Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult.