Virat Kohli made his 35th birthday special by cracking a record-equalling century in Team India's winning cause at the Eden Gardens stadium in Kolkata on November 5, Sunday. Kohli scripted history after notching his 49th ODI century to match Sachin Tendulkar's all-time World Record of most centuries in the One Day Internationals. Kohli's unbeaten century helped India post a colossal target of 326/5 and ultimately win the match by 243 runs.
Meanwhile, former India skipper Gautam Gambhir lavished praise on King Kohli. While lauding Kohli and Shreyas Iyer Gambhir said,"Rohit Sharma got the easiest conditions to bat on today , Virat and Shreyas literally batted on a different planet. Spin was the real deal on that pitch and both of them batted exceptionally."
Batting first, India rode on Kohli and Shreyas Iyer's big knocks to put a big total on the board. After the early dismissals of Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill, Virat paired up with Shreyas Iyer to stitch an instrumental partnership of 134 runs to guide India to a mammoth total. While Kohil ended up scoring an unbeaten 101 off 121 balls, Iyer notched a much-needed 77 off 87 balls to steady India's boat. India's bowling did the rest to win the match.
In reply, South Africa's star-studded batting line-up perished under pressure and were bundled out for a paltry 83, thanks to Ravindra Jadeja's robust five-wicket haul. Jadeja ran through the South African batting unit and gunned down South Africa skipper Temba Bavuma (11 off 19), Heinrich Klaasen (1 off 11), David Miller (11 off 11), Keshav Maharaj (7 off 11) and Kagiso Rabada (6 off 26). Besides them, Quinton de Kock (5 off 10), Rassie Van Der Dussen (13 off 32), Aiden Markram (9 off 6) and Marco Jansen (14 off 30) too surrendered before India's lethal bowling attack.
While India continue to rule the World Cup 2023's points table with 16 points in eight matches, South Africa are well placed at no.2 with 12 points.
India will next face Netherland on November 12 while South Africa will play their last league match against Afghanistan on November 10.
Talking about Kohli's magical knock, he took just 277 innings to notch his 49th ODI ton. Kohli's fellow teammate and India skipper Rohit Sharma is third in the list of most ODI centuries with 31 against his name followed by Australian legend Ricky Ponting (30) and former Sri Lanka's star opener Sanath Jayasuriya (28). This was king Kohli's second century in the ongoing World Cup as the first one came against Bangladesh in Pune when he scored an unbeaten 103 to help India win the match.
Also, Kohli has now surpassed Kumar Sangakkara in tally of most fifty-plus scores in ODIs, achieving his 119th score of fifty or more. This milestone places him above Sangakkara's 118 and just behind Sachin Tendulkar, who leads the record with 145 instances of 50-plus scores in ODIs.
This was Kohli's second century in the ongoing World Cup. He has so far amassed a total of 543 runs in a total of eight matches.
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