A content Virat Kohli maintained a calm exterior after creating history in front of a packed Eden Gardens on Sunday. Kohli peeled off his 49th ODI century during a world cup 2023 match between India and South Africa in Kolkata.
Kohli now is the joint-leading century maker in the format’s history alongside batting legend Sachin Tendulkar.
ICC World Cup: Schedule | Results | Points Table | Most Runs | Most Wickets
During the innings, Kohli became the third batter after Quinton de Kock and Rachin Ravindra to breach the 500-run mark in the ongoing competition as well.
“I’m grateful to god for giving me the chance to play and contribute to the team’s success,” Kohli told broadcasters during the innings break.
Also Read: A Statistical Breakdown of Kohli’s 49th Centuries
“It’s stuff of dreams to score 100 on birthday, and I am blessed to have these moments, blessed to such fan support,” he added.
Kohli took just 277 innings to get to the milestone of 49 centuries while it took Tendulkar, one of the most consistent batters in the format’s history, took 451 innings.
Kohli revealed that the Kolkata pitch wasn’t as easy as Rohit Sharma made it look so when he kickstarted the innings with a lighting quick innings of 40 as India stormed to 91/1 in 10 overs.
Also Read: All of Virat Kohli’s 49 ODI Centuries Revisited
“It was a wicket that was tricky to bat on, we got a great start from Rohit and Shubman (Gill). My job was to keep it going on. The ball started gripping and turning after the 10th over, it slowed down and then my role was to bat deep with the others playing around me. That was what was communicated to me by the team management,” he said.
After the openers departed, Kohli and Shreyas Iyer joined forces to absorb the pressure and dropped anchor. It was Iyer who played the role of the enforcer after a quiet start with the batting duo stitching a century stand for the third wicket.
“Shreyas played well and we got a few more runs towards the end. We had a lot of chats during the Asia Cup, we bat at 3 and 4, so this was the partnership that was needed to take the game forward. We don’t have Hardik in the team, so we knew a wicket or two could cost us, we had to dig deep and take the match deep,” Kohli said.
Comments
0 comment