Virat Kohli continued his red-hot form with a fifty against Netherlands in the last group-stage match of the ICC World Cup 2023 on Sunday, November 12. India's top order provided a brilliant start to put India on track for a big total at Bengaluru's M Chinnaswamy Stadium to continue its dominance in the tournament.
With semifinal qualification already secured, the Men in Blue remained unchanged for their last assignment before the semifinal showdown with New Zealand. Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat first and proved his decision right by smashing a brilliant fifty.
Rohit and Shubman Gill gave India an explosive start with a 100-run stand in just 71 balls. Gill also scored 51 runs and took only 30 balls to put India on track for a big total. Netherlands tried to balance the game with successive wickets of Rohit and Gill but next batters Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer put India in a dominant position.
Kohli scored 51 off 56 before losing his wicket to Roelof van der Merwe and missed recording his 50th ODI hundred. However, the star batter equalled Sachin Tendulkar and Shakib Al Hasan's record for most fifty-plus scores in a single edition of the ODI World Cup. This was Kohli's 7th fifty-plus score in this tournament, a record first set by legendary Sachin Tendulkar in 2003 and then by Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan in the last edition.
Most 50-plus scores in ODI World Cup history:
- 7* - Virat Kohli in 2023
- 7 - Shakib Al Hasan in 2019
- 7 - Sachin Tendulkar in 2003
India Playing XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj
Netherlands Playing XI: Wesley Barresi, Max ODowd, Colin Ackermann, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Scott Edwards (c & wk), Bas de Leede, Teja Nidamanuru, Logan van Beek, Roelof van der Merwe, Aryan Dutt, Paul van Meekeren
