Batting maestro Virat Kohli yet again proved his batting might as he shattered the great Sachin Tendulkar's all-time record of most runs in a single edition of the ODI World Cup. In the crunch World Cup 2023's semifinal clash against New Zealand on November 15, at the iconic Wankhede stadium in Mumbai, Kohli achieved this mega milestone. Notably, in the 2003 ODI World Cup, batting legend Tendulkar recorded the most runs in a single edition of the showpiece event, i.e 673 runs. The batting great slammed seven fifties to taste the glory back then. Twenty years later, Kohli went on to surpass Tendulkar with 674 runs and is still unbeaten on the crease with an intent to break the Master Blaster's another historic record of most ODI tons.
Most runs in an ODI World Cup
Virat Kohli (IND) - 674* (2023)
Sachin Tendulkar (IND) - 673 (2003)
Mathew Hayden (AUS) - 659 (2007)
Rohit Sharma (IND) - 648 (2019)
David Warner (AUS) - 647 (2019)
Kohli is still unscathed on the crease with a robust 89 off 91 riding on eight fours and a six as of 37 overs against New Zealand.
This was 35-year-old's eighth 50-plus knock in the ODI World Cup 2023, which is also the most by any batter in a single edition of the showpiece event.
He surpassed the previous record of seven fifty-plus scores, a record that was jointly held by Sachin in 2003 and Bangladesh's Shakib Al Hasan in 2019.
Riding on his fine knock, the star no.3 batter also leapfrogged Australia's Ricky Ponting in terms of most ODI runs. Ponting amassed a total of 13,704 ODI runs while has so far garnered more than 13765 runs in the One Day Internationals.
Talking about the match skipper Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill gave India a blistering start and stitched together a cracking partnership of 71 runs. However, Tim Southee halted Rohit's innings at 47 off 29. Kohli then paired up with Gill to keep the run spree on. Gill picked up cramps and went pack to pavilion after retiring hurt for 79 off 65.
Meanwhile, Rohit won the toss and elected to bat first in the crunch World Cup semifinal against New Zealand.
After winning the toss, Rohit said,"We are gonna bat first. Looks like a good pitch. Looks like on the slower side. Whatever we do, we need to do well. I think it was back in 2019 when we played the semis. NZ is one of the most consistent sides. Very important day. Constantly, talking about how important it is about turning up on that day. It is about controlling the controllables. Same team."
Meanwhile, Kiwi skipper Kane Williamson said,"We would have batted first. Looks like a used pitch. We would want to do well with the ball and then hopefully, some dew later. Amazing occasion. Four years ago, similar situation but a different location. They have been playing some good cricket. Always a building phase between the tournaments. Need to assess what is in front of you when the tournament starts. We are going with the same team from the previous match."
India Playing XI: Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj.
New Zealand Playing XI: Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra, Kane Williamson(c), Daryl Mitchell, Mark Chapman, Glenn Phillips, Tom Latham(w), Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult
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