In a match against South Africa Virat Kohli scores his 49th ODI century on his 35th birthday and equals Sachin Tendulkar’s record
The star batsman Virat Kohli continued his brilliant form in the ongoing World Cup when he brought up his second century of the tournament against South Africa on his 35th birthday at the Eden Gardens on Sunday. It was his 49th ODI century, which helped him equal the tally of ODI centuries with the legendary Sachin Tendulkar.
This was also the 79th century for Kohli and his 4th in ODI history, and he got to the milestone in 119 balls, peppered with 10 fours.
The batter, who is fondly called 'chase master', had earlier recorded a century in this World Cup when he smashed a last ball six against Bangladesh and had just missed out on two other occasions when he scored 95 against New Zealand and 88 against Sri Lanka.
In today’s match, while continuing with his high-risk game, Rohit Sharma gave India a flourishing start, but South Africa pegged the hosts back by removing the captain and his opening partner, Shubhman Gill, in their World Cup match.
Rohit hit a 24-ball 40 and shared an opening partnership of 62 runs with Shubman Gill, who scored 23 runs, but the Proteas left them fighting at 105 for two after 15 overs. The flurry of shots from Rohit’s bat saw India complete 50 runs in just 4.3 overs as the captain smashed two sixes and six boundaries during his entertaining innings.