Ishan Kishan shared a heartfelt message for his senior teammate Virat Kohli following the latter's historic batting display in the World Cup semifinal clash between India and New Zealand at the Wankhede Stadium on November 15.
Kohli surpassed Sachin Tendulkar's record for the most ODI centuries by notching his 50th century in the One-Day Internationals and helped India beat New Zealand by 70 runs. Kohli had previously equalled Tendulkar's record of 49 centuries during India's 243-run victory over South Africa in the league stage match. In the first semifinal of the ongoing ODI World Cup 2023, Kohli further solidified his legacy by cracking his third century of the tournament.
He achieved the big milestone in just 279th innings. The right-handed batter concluded his innings after scoring 117 runs off 123 balls, featuring nine fours and a couple of sixes. On November 16, Ishan expressed his admiration for Kohli on his Instagram story. Referring to his teammate as a living legend, Ishan wrote, "Living legend. Thank you for being an inspiration. Words can't describe the achievements of this champion player."
“For me, this all feels like a dream. It’s too good to be true, it’s surreal. I never thought I would be here in my career,” Kohli said after the century.
“It’s difficult to explain but if I could paint the perfect picture I would want this to be the picture: my partner, the person I love the most is sitting there, my hero [Tendulkar] is sitting there. To get to 50 hundreds in front of them and the fans at this historic venue was amazing,” he added.
Meanwhile, India defeated New Zealand by 70 runs, securing a spot in the final. Alongside Kohli, Shreyas Iyer also contributed with a century, and Shubman Gill remained unbeaten with 80 runs as India amassed a total of 397/4 in 50 overs after Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat first.
In response, New Zealand exhibited a valiant effort but ultimately fell short as they were dismissed for 327, despite a century from Daryl Mitchell. Mohammed Shami played a starring role for India with the ball, claiming 7 for 57 in his 10 overs.
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