Priya Aditi
Virat Kohli, the undisputed batsman for India, demonstrated his tremendous prowess once more during the 2023 World Cup match against Bangladesh by smashing his 48th century in ODIs. As India appeared poised to secure their fourth consecutive victory in the tournament, Kohli’s mentality appeared to change as he set his sights on that elusive three-figure figure. Kohli had, in fact, paced his innings to near-perfection since taking the crease in the thirteenth over of the match, as he has done throughout his career.
With India needing only 19 runs to secure victory and Kohli requiring the same number of runs to complete his century, the legendary batsman initiated his pursuit of the hundred. Throughout the last two overs of the match, Kohli consistently declined singles, and KL Rahul, who did not take the striker position, assisted the 34-year-old in his pursuit. Subsequently, Kohli adopted a more assertive strategy, prioritizing boundary detection over sprinting between the wickets in order to achieve his target.
However, the completion of a Kohli innings is not possible without his flawless capability of converting ones into twos. Two quick twos in the penultimate over by Kohli wowed the audience, serving as evidence of his extraordinary stamina and fitness. The culmination of Kohli’s ceaseless pursuit for a century was the epitome of drama. In Pune, Kohli achieved a remarkable milestone by smashing a six against Nasum Ahmed, not only ensuring India’s resounding triumph but also surpassing the magnificent three-figure mark, with only two runs remaining for the victory and three required for his ton.
Naturally, the crowd erupted in jubilation as Kohli demonstrated once more why he is considered one of the all-time finest ODI batters. Kohli drew one step closer to Sachin Tendulkar, who currently holds the record for the most centuries in One-Day Internationals (49), with his 48th century. In total, Kohli achieved his 78th international century; however, Tendulkar continues to hold the record with 100 centuries to his credit. However, this was not the India star’s sole achievement. In addition, during his innings against Bangladesh, Kohli surpassed Mahela Jayawardene to become the fourth-leading scorer in the history of international cricket. Ricky Ponting (27,483 runs), Sachin Tendulkar (34,357 runs), and Kumar Sangakkara (28,016 runs) are the only others ahead of him on this elite list.
Nevertheless, this did not rank as the most momentous achievement of the evening. Despite the fact that the esteemed 50th ODI century is still two centuries away, Kohli achieved an additional noteworthy accomplishment during his innings by surpassing yet another of Tendulkar’s records. He achieved the quickest score of 26,000 runs in the history of international cricket. Kohli, who is unbeaten in international cricket with a remarkable total of 26,026 runs, reached this landmark in his 567th international innings, 34 innings less than the legendary Tendulkar’s 601 innings.
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Kohli’s evening was not yet complete. Kohli eagerly anticipated another momentous accomplishment, which he gallantly grasped, surpassing Rohit Sharma and Brian Lara to secure the fourth position among the all-time leaders in runs scored during ODI World Cups. Kohli has now surpassed Tendulkar (2278 runs), Ponting (1743 runs), and Sangakkara (1531 runs) in the ODI World Cup standings.
