India’s designated no.3 batter in ODIs, Virat Kohli continued his purple patch in the format. On January 11, Kohli scored 93 runs in the run chase of 301 and won the ‘Player of the match’ award. This was his 45th POTM award. In the post-match presentation, the 37-year-old was asked where does he keep all the awards. Kohli revealed that all the POTM awards go to his mother’s residence in Gurugram, Haryana.
“I have no idea. I just send the trophies back home to my mum in Gurgaon - she loves keeping them,” Kohli told the presenter after India’s four-wicket win with an over to spare in Vadodara.
Kohli’s 45 POTM awards in ODIs are third-highest. His idol, Sachin Tendulkar is on top with 62 POTM awards, followed by Sri Lanka's Sanath Jayasuriya who has 48 POTM awards.
Kohli walked out to bat in the ninth over. He shared an 118-run partnership for the second wicket with captain Shubman Gill. Then, he shared an 83-run partnership with Shreyas Iyer. He was roped of a century by Micahel Bracewell's stunning catch at mid-off. He lost his wicket to Kyle Jamieson. The top-order batter's knock was studded with eight fours and a six.
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Was Kohli nervous in the 90s?
Kohli was asked whether he was thinking about getting to his century. He replied by saying that he was just focusing on taking the team to a position for a comfortable win.
“If I am being brutally honest, the way I’m playing right now, I’m not thinking about milestones at all. If we were batting first, I probably would’ve gone harder. But in a chase, with a total on the board, I had to play the situation. I felt like hitting more boundaries, but experience kicks in. The only thing on my mind was getting the team into a position where we could win comfortably,” Kohli said.
Kohli equals Tendulkar’s ODI record against New Zealand
Meanwhile, Kohli also equalled Tendulkar's record for most ODI runs against New Zealand for an Indian batter. Tendulkar scored 1,750 runs from 41 innings at an average of 46.05, featuring five tons and eight fifties. Kohli has same amount of runs from 34 innings at an average of 56.45, including six centuries and 10 fifties.
Overall, the record for most ODI runs against New Zealand belongs to Australia's Ricky Ponting. From 50 innings, Ponting scored 1,971 runs at an average of 45.83, including six centuries and 12 fifties.