The wait came to an end at Eden Gardens, Kolkata on November 5. Virat Kohli on his 35th birthday equalled legendary Sachin Tendulkar’s record of most centuries in ODI cricket. Kohli scored an unbeaten 101 against South Africa in India’s eighth league game of the ICC Men’s ODI World Cup 2023. Kohli took 277 innings to score 49 ODI hundreds. Tendulkar reacted to it within half an hour of Kohli equalling his long-standing record and wished that he break the record in the coming days.
Tendulkar tweeted: “Well played Virat. It took me 365 days to go from 49 to 50 earlier this year. I hope you go from 49 to 50 and break my record in the next few days. Congratulations!!”
Earlier Tendulkar had also wished Kohli on his 35th birthday with a tweet saying, “Virat, may you keep winning hearts with your passion and performances. Wishing you a great year ahead and a very happy birthday.”
Kohli after an unbeaten 101 said that the wicket became a bit tricky to bat on later on in the innings. He revealed the plan he had in the middle overs.
“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, Shreyas played well and we got a few more runs towards the end. We had a lot of chats during the Asia Cup, we bat at 3 and 4, so this was the partnership that was needed to take the game forward. We don't have Hardik in the team, so we knew a wicket or two could cost us, we had to dig deep and take the match deep,” Kohli told the broadcasters during the innings break.
Kohli was ecstatic after his century helped India post 326/5 on the board. He shared that wickets will be the key to putting pressure on South Africa.
“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. The pitch is on the slower side, we have a quality bowling line-up as well, but we'll have to work hard. Wickets will be the key, getting a couple early will put them under pressure with the way this pitch is behaving,” the 35-year-old added.
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