Virat Kohli’s 50th ODI Century: A Landmark Moment in Cricket History
Virat Kohli, the stalwart of Indian cricket, etched his name in the annals of the sport by becoming the first player ever to notch up 50 centuries in One Day International (ODI) cricket surpassing the Great Sachin Tendulkar.
This historic milestone was reached in the electrifying atmosphere of a World Cup semi-final clash against New Zealand, a match witnessed by cricketing legends and adoring fans alike.
As the first batter to reach 50 ODI hundreds, Virat Kohli called the moment “the perfect picture,” having broken the record in front of his wife Anushka Sharma and the man whose record he broke, Sachin Tendulkar, during a World Cup semi-final match against New Zealand.
When Kohli reached his 50th century in the 42nd over of India‘s innings by flicking Lockie Ferguson behind square, he celebrated with a leap and a punch in the air. He then removed his helmet, raised his arms, and bowed towards the stands, where Tendulkar and Anushka were cheering him on.
Interviewed during the innings break, Kohli remarked, “It’s stuff of dreams, Anushka was sitting right there, Sachin paaji was there in the stands.” “It’s really hard for me to put into words, but if I could create the ideal image, I would want this to be it. Sitting there is my life mate, the person I love the most. He’s sitting there, my hero. And at Wankhede, such a historic arena, I was fortunate to get the 50th in front of all of them and these fans. It was incredible.”
In India’s penultimate World Cup league match against South Africa, Kohli reached the 49th century milestone in just 277 innings, while Tendulkar had achieved it in 451 ODI innings. He then shattered the record in his 279th innings.
“I said it in Kolkata, the great man (Sachin Tendulkar) just congratulated me, all this feels like a dream for me, honestly,” Kohli stated. It seems too good to be true, and I never imagined that in my career, I would be here. I had to kind of play the part I’ve played throughout the tournament in order to allow the players around me to go and express themselves since I’ve helped the team so much and it’s a big game tonight. I’m really happy that everything worked out so well and that we scored highly on the board.”
Kohli smashed more than one record held by Tendulkar during his historic century, though. In addition, he surpassed Tendulkar in the record for most runs in an ODI World Cup. When Kohli struck his 80th run in Wednesday’s semi-final, he overtook Tendulkar’s record of 673 runs from the 2003 World Cup and became the first batter to reach 700 runs in an ODI World Cup.
Kohli amassed 711 runs in the competition at an average of 101.57 and a strike rate of 90.68 before being bowled out for 117 off 113 balls.
After five half-centuries in ten games in World Cup, Kohli’s century was his third of the competition. He batted in the ninth over of India’s innings in the semi-final, with the score at 71 for 1. He and Shubman Gill scored 93 runs off 86 balls and 163 runs off 128 balls, respectively. After appearing to have cramps when in his 90s, Kohli reached his half-century off 59 balls and then smashed his following 50 runs off 53 deliveries. In a World Cup knockout match, India scored the greatest score ever (397 for 4) thanks to his anchoring performance.
“As I’ve said a lot of times before, the most important thing is to make my team win, and whatever it takes to do that, I’m ready to do that, whether it’s running singles and doubles, hitting boundaries, whatever the team wants me to do,” Kohli stated.
“I’ve been given a role in this tournament, and I’m attempting to play it as well as I can. I’m attempting to bat long and deep so that the other players can play around me and feel confident that I can dominate with the bat in the later overs. I suppose that’s the only secret to consistency: always playing for your team and adapting to the circumstances.”
