Virat Kohli matched Sachin Tendulkar’s feat of 49 ODI centuries as he led India to a massive 243-run victory over South Africa in the World Cup. The Indian captain took 174 fewer innings and 173 fewer matches than the legendary Tendulkar to reach the milestone.
He also moved to the second spot in the list of highest run-getters in the tournament with 543 runs, and is in sight of breaking Tendulkar’s record of 673 runs in a single World Cup edition.
Kohli started his ODI career in 2008 against Sri Lanka, and shared the dressing room with Tendulkar for several years, including the 2011 World Cup triumph.
He witnessed Tendulkar’s 49th and final ODI hundred against Bangladesh in the 2012 Asia Cup, when he already had 10 centuries of his own. Tendulkar must have sensed that Kohli was the one who could surpass him.
https://twitter.com/sachin_rt/status/1721147544389185802Kohli has the highest average of 58.48 among all players who have played at least 50 ODIs. He is also a master of chases, averaging 65.24 while batting second, and scoring 27 of his 49 hundreds in successful run-chases.
Tendulkar still holds the record for the most runs in ODI history, with 18,426 while Virat has scored 13,626 runs, and the most hundreds in Test cricket, with 51. Kohli is tied for the 16th place in Test hundreds, with 29.
With the rise of T20 cricket, the number of ODIs may decline in the future, making Kohli’s record even more remarkable. He could soon become the first and possibly the last player to score 50 ODI centuries.
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