Birthday boy, the Indian cricketing royalty and one of the superstars of the game, Virat Kohli smashed his 49th ODI century against South Africa in Kolkata on Sunday, November 5 in the ongoing ICC Men's Cricket World Cup. It was long awaited but it seems, it was written in the stars to come on his 35th birthday as King equalled God Sachin Tendulkar's record of most centuries in ODI cricket. Kohli's knock contained 10 boundaries as India posted a strong score of 326 runs after choosing to bat first against the Proteas in their 8th match of the World Cup.
Kohli has gotten out for scores of 85, 95 and 88 in the World Cup so far apart from the lone century in Pune against Bangladesh. He came close to equalling Sachin twice in the last three matches but finally got to it when India needed it the most against a top-quality side especially having lost both openers by the 11th over. Kohli and Shreyas Iyer took their time before getting into the act stitching a 134-run stand. Iyer used the long handle once he got to 30-40 with Kohli holding one end up.
Kohli's innings allowed others to play their natural game and role perfectly. Iyer started smashing and when he got out, Suryakumar Yadav played the role of the aggressor followed by Ravindra Jadeja's unbeaten 15-ball 29 which pushed India's score beyond 320 and Kohli could take his time for a deserved century.
Kohli became the 7th batsman to score an ODI century on his birthday and only third after Ross Taylor and Mitchell Marsh to do it on his birthday. Kohli's is now just one century away from become the first batter in history to score 50 ODI centuries and Sachin Tendulkar, the Master Blaster, whose record he matches wished that it gets done soon.
Scoring a century on birthday (ODIs)
Vinod Kambli - 100* vs ENG, Jaipur 1993 (21th birthday)
Sachin Tendulkar - 134 vs AUS, Sharjah 1998 (25th birthday)
Sanath Jayasuriya - 130 vs IND, Karachi 2008 (39th birthday)
Ross Taylor 131* - vs PAK, Pallekele 2011 (27th birthday)
Tom Latham 140* - vs NED, Hamilton 2022 (30th birthday)
Mitchell Marsh 121 - vs PAK, Bengaluru 2023 (32nd birthday)
Virat Kohli 100* - vs SA, Kolkata 2023 (35th birthday)
Most centuries in ODIs
49 - Virat Kohli (India) in 277 innings
49 - Sachin Tendulkar (India) in 452 innings
31 - Rohit Sharma (India) in 251 innings
30 - Ricky Ponting (Australia) in 365 innings
28 - Sanath Jayasuriya (Sri Lanka) in 433 innings
