King touches God! Virat Kohli matched Sachin Tendulkar’s exceptional record of 49 ODI tons with a gritty century in the IND vs SA Cricket World Cup clash. In a stadium where he scored his maiden ODI ton, Virat Kohli on his 35th birthday slammed his 49th ODI century to match the great Sachin Tendulkar.
With an overall of 79 tons across all formats of the game, Kohli’s 49th ton was nothing short of special. In a slow, turning, and difficult pitch, Kohli reached his century in 119 balls. A beautifully constructed innings with Shreyas Iyers and the batters that followed, Kohli hit 10 fours to match the Masterblaster.
Birthday boy Virat Kohli equals Sachin Tendulkar with 49h ODI ton in IND vs SA
Most 100s in ODIs
49 Virat Kohli (277 innings)
49 Sachin Tendulkar (452)
31 Rohit Sharma (251)
30 Ricky Ponting (365)
28 Sanath Jayasuriya (433)
Review for Bowled! Watch Keshav Maharaj’s ball of the tournament to stun Shubman Gill
Virat Kohli slams 49th ODI Ton
The 49th ODI ton was up for grabs since the last couple of matches. Kohli came close in the match against New Zealand but fell short of just 5 runs. Against England he was dismissed for a duck and in the last game against Sri Lanka he came close but was dismissed on 88.
But today, playing on his 35th birthday, Kohli looked in confident touch from the start of this innings. Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill gave India a great start, but it was Kohli and Iyer who built the innings after both the openers departed. With the pitch turning slow and showing a variety of turns, Kohli had to fight through the odds to bring up his century.
“I’m grateful to god for giving me the chance to play and contribute to the team’s success. It’s great to get a hundred on my birthday in front of this big crowd at this great venue. The pitch is on the slower side, we have a quality bowling line-up as well, but we’ll have to work hard. Wickets will be the key, getting a couple early will put them under pressure with the way this pitch is behaving,” said Virat Kohli after his tremendous knock.
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