Virat Kohli has commenced his journey towards the 2023 ICC World Cup in style. In his first match of the calendar year, Kohli answered all his critics who had started to question his place. He scored his 73rd international ton across formats. With a blistering century that Kohli registered against Sri Lanka, he has now made 45 ODI hundreds and he needs 5 more to edge past the great Sachin Tendulkar who has 49 hundreds in the 50-over format.
Virat has scored all his 45 tons while batting either at number 3 or number 4 and has become the only non-opening batsman to have these many tons. Virat also surpassed Sachin's record of having 8 ODI tons against Sri Lanka. Kohli also became the fastest batter to make 12,500 ODI runs. This also happens to be the 11th instance when Kohli scored two consecutive hundreds. Virat striking form at the right time is certainly good news for the Indian cricket team. After the match, Virat Kohli had a chance to chat with his compatriot Suryakumar Yadav and he was all praises for him.
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Virat Kohli said:
I want to wish you a very happy new year and many congratulations to you for all the amazing things that you have been doing. I have been playing for many years now, but what you have done and accomplished last year is something that is very very special, something that I haven't witnessed before. You are creating a different template, you are creating a different energy. I can see the crowd when you go out to bat. There is always genuine love from them because of the way you have been playing. Now people have started to look at you differently. Keeping up with that is an extremely intense process.
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India defeated Sri Lanka in the first ODI by a margin of 67 runs. All the top six Indian batters scored at a strike rate of more than 110. Virat Kohli in particular was extremely stellar as he scored 113 off 87 deliveries. The former RCB captain scored at a strike rate of over 129 and hit 12 fours and 1 six in the process.
