Virat Kohli fell inches short of equalling his idol Sachin Tendulkar's record of scoring the most number of centuries in ODI cricket as the Delhi-born got out at an individual score of 88 while playing against Sri Lanka in the 33rd game of the ongoing World Cup on Thursday, November 2. The event unfolded in front of his cricketing idol on the latter's home ground Wankhede.
This is the second time Virat has missed a ton in the ongoing marquee tournament. He previously got out on 95 while playing against New Zealand at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium (HPCA) in Dharamsala in the 21st match of the tournament.
Coming back to Virat's knock against Sri Lanka, he began his innings in his trademark fashion as he ran between the wickets swiftly to keep rotating the strike and kept applying pressure on the Sri Lankan captain Kusal Mendis and his bowlers. Coming into bat in the very first over of India's innings after skipper Rohit Sharma fell cheaply at an individual score of 4, Virat showed remarkable maturity and game awareness.
He faced three consecutive dot balls but got off the mark in style as he pierced the gap between the wicketkeeper and the leg gully to find a boundary. The charismatic right-hander didn't look back from there on and manoeuvred the balls in the gaps to put India's noses in front.
Virat's scintillating knock has helped him become the second-leading run-getter with 442 runs behind South Africa's Quinton de Kock (545) and with the hosts slated to play two more games in the ongoing round-robin stage of the tournament, Kohli can very likely leave de Kock behind in the race to the zenith.
Notably, Kohli has amassed three World Cup hundreds. He scored a ton on his World Cup debut game during the 2011 edition while playing against Bangladesh at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur. His second century of the tournament came against the arch-rivals Pakistan in the 2015 edition in Adelaide.
