: Virat Kohli on Wednesday climbed a peak that no one ever has conquered 50th hundred in ODIs, and, rest assured, the Indian superstar will stand alone on that high point for foreseeable future. With that century against New Zealand in the World Cup semifinals here, Kohli moved past his idol Sachin Tendulkar, who had held the record for most ODI centuries till now with 49 of them.
Tendulkar also might have felt a bit of gratification seeing his successor dethroning him, as the batting maestro himself had asked Kohli not to delay in getting to the mark.
After Kohli reached his 49th ODI hundred against South Africa in Kolkata, Tendulkar took to X (formerly Twitter) to wish the Delhiite.
“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,” Tendulkar had written then.
Kohli did precisely that on this day in Tendulkar’s home ground.
Kohli also became the highest scorer in a single edition of a World Cup, surpassing Sachin Tendulkar (673 runs in 2003).
During his unbeaten innings, Kohli bettered Tendulkar’s record which he had created in the 2003 edition of the World Cup, was hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Kenya.
Kohli also became the highest run-getter of this tournament, eclipsing South Africa’s Quinton de Kock (591), followed by New Zealand’s Rachin Ravindra (565).