With a packed Eden Gardens to bear witness, Indian batter Virat Kohli scripted history by equalling Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 49 ODI centuries, on his 35th birthday. This feat was achieved when Kohli – with his transcendental relentlessness, after agonisingly missing out in the last few matches – struck a ton against the high-flying South Africa, during India’s eighth match of the 2023 ICC World Cup.
In today’s match, Kohli came out to bat when India’s score was 62/1 after 5.4 overs, courtesy of a quickfire 40 from skipper Rohit Sharma. Five overs later, Rohit’s opening partner Shubman Gill also lost his wicket, with Kohli being handed the responsibility of stabilising India’s innings yet again.
"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," said Virat post his record-equaling ton.
Post India's innings, the 35-year-old revealed that the pitch was "tricky" to bat on and that the ball started gripping and turning after the 10th over of the game.
Virat also said that the team management expected him to bat deep since the services of Hardik Pandya wasn't available.
"It was a wicket that was tricky to bat on, we got a great start from Rohit and Shubman, my job was to keep it going on. The ball started gripping and turning after the 10th over, it slowed down and then my role was to bat deep with the others playing around me. That was what was communicated to me by the team management," he told the broadcasters during the mid-innings break.
In a rather uncharacteristic pacing, the former Indian skipper decided to take the attack to the bowlers from the beginning, before applying the brakes on his strokeplay. His first 25 runs came in only 24 deliveries, but it took 43 more deliveries to score the next 25 and bring up a half-century.
The batting conditions gradually more difficult as the game progressed, resulting in Kohli not playing as freely as he would have ideally preferred. But he held fort for the team and brought up his 49th ODI century in the 49th over, using 119 deliveries to do so.
Kohli’s first-ever ODI century, in a stunning coincidence, came at the same ground, against Sri Lanka back in December 2009. The next year saw him adding three more fifty-over tons to his name – one each against Bangladesh, Australia and New Zealand.
His first ODI World Cup century also came against Bangladesh, in Mirpur back in February 2011. By 2019, Kohli had scored 44 centuries in this format, but a lean patch followed, where he could not make it to the three figures for three years.
The comeback eventually happened last year in Bangladesh’s Chattogram, and since then, he has scored five centuries in 21 innings.
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