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Former India captain and maverick batter, Virat Kohli on November 5 (Sunday) equalled Sachin Tendulkar's record of amassing 49 centuries in ODIs. Kohli achieved the milestone on his birthday and against South Africa in the ODI World Cup at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Kohli remained unbeaten on 101 runs off 121 balls with the help of 10 fours. After his impeccable knock under challenging circumstances, Kohli opened up on his remarkable achievement.
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"Every opportunity to play for India is a big one, to be able to ton up on my birthday is a stuff of dreams. Playing for the country is a huge pride for me as a young child. Grateful to God that I'm blessed with such moments," Kohli told the host broadcaster.
On the back of Kohli's unbeaten century, India posted a daunting score of 326/5 in 50 overs. Kohli also opened up on how the pitch became challenging to bat after 10 overs when the ball started to hold on the surface.
“It was a wicket that was tricky to bat on. We got a great start. My job was to keep the momentum going when I got in. But after ten overs, the ball started gripping and the wicket started slowing down. My role was to bat deep and till the end after the openers fell because that's what I've done, that was the communication as well - to have guys bat around me,” said Kohli, as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.
Shreyas Iyer played a solid knock as well and stitched a 134-run stand with Kohli. The Mumbaikar scored 77 runs off 87 balls and played a delightful innings after struggling in the beginning.
“Shreyas starting hitting well as well. We were not thinking we would get to 326 but that's what happens when you dig deep and take the game into the last few overs. Shreyas and I had a lot of practice sessions before the Asia Cup and invariably batted together at 3 and 4. Both of us are comfortable against spinners. Both of us are comfortable rotating strike against spinners, credit to him for putting away bad balls. When you lose two wickets and don't have Hardik, you need to bat deep and get to a stage where the opposition feels like we have to restrict them,” said Kohli.
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