Mumbai: Virat Kohli reached his record 50th ODI hundred on Wednesday in the ODI World Cup 2023 semifinal against New Zealand at the Wankhede Stadium, surpassing legendary Sachin Tendulkar’s 49. Infact, Kohli achieved his milestone in front of his idol, Tendulkar, who was in the stands along with legendary England footballer David Beckham.
Kohli’s feat came in the 42nd over when the former India captain pushed Lockie Ferguson for a double towards deep backward leg. He jumped and punched the air in delight, went down to his knees before taking off his helmet. He then bowed down to Tendulkar, who was in the stands.
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Virat Kohli surpasses the legendary Sachin Tendulkar and now has the most centuries in Men’s ODIs #TeamIndia | #CWC23 | #MenInBlue | #INDvNZ | @imVkohli pic.twitter.com/230u7JAxcJ
— BCCI (@BCCI) November 15, 2023
Tendulkar in reply applauded the batting maestro, with the whole stadium going berserk. He finally was dismissed by Tim Southee for 117 off 113 balls, that included nine fours and two sixes. 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.
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.
