Virat becomes 1st cricketer to hit 50 ODI centuries, breaks Sachin's record
Kohli reached the century mark in 106 balls.
Virat Kohli (BCCI)
CHENNAI: Star India batter Virat Kohli has become the first cricketer to hit 50 ODI centuries, surpassing the record of Sachin Tendulkar's world record of 49 tons during the ICC World Cup semifinal against New Zealand at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai.
Kohli reached the century mark in 106 balls.
Sachin Tendulkar praised Kolhi for breaking his record. He took to his official X (formerly Twitter) handle and wrote, "The first time I met you in the Indian dressing room, you were pranked by other teammates into touching my feet. I couldn’t stop laughing that day. But soon, you touched my heart with your passion and skill. I am so happy that that young boy has grown into a ‘Virat’ player. I couldn’t be happier that an Indian broke my record. And to do it on the biggest stage - in the World Cup Semi-final - and at my home ground is the icing on the cake." (sic)
Following his century, Virat bowed to Sachin, who was in the stands, enjoying the action.
After a string of low scores in 2011, 2015, and 2019 WC knockout games, it was this historic knock that ended India's wait for a Virat special in 50-over WC knockouts. Virat celebrated this historic moment with a jump, despite battling cramps.
This was also Virat's 80th international cricket century. The star batter also has 29 Test centuries in 111 Tests and one T20I century in 115 matches.
He is the second-highest century scorer of all time in international cricket and is chasing Sachin's record of 100 international tons.
In 10 matches of this tournament so far, Virat has scored 711 runs at an average of over 101 and a strike rate of over 89.
His best score is 117. Virat has scored three centuries and five fifties in 10 innings in this tournament.
He is also the highest run-getter in the tournament so far.
Virat also has the most amount of runs in a single Cricket World Cup edition, going past Sachin's record of 673 runs in the 2003 edition of the tournament.
Virat is now the third-highest run-scorer in all of Cricket World Cup history. In 36 matches, he has scored 1,731 runs at an average of 61.46, with the best score of 117.
He has scored five centuries in his WC career so far, with 11 fifties as well.
Earlier, on Wednesday, India won the toss and opted to bat first.
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj
New Zealand (Playing XI): Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra, Kane Williamson(c), Daryl Mitchell, Mark Chapman, Glenn Phillips, Tom Latham(w), Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult.
