Birthday boy Virat Kohli continued to deliver the goods as the former Indian captain celebrated his 35th birthday and marked the occasion with a few records. While the man is no stranger to breaking records and surpassing milestones, Kohli came up with yet another crucial knock against South Africa at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
Playing at the same venue where Virat scored his first century in Indian colours, Kohli became only the fourth player after Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting and Kumar Sangakkara to score more than 1500 runs in the history of the ODI World Cup.
The 34-year-old also became the second player with the most fifties in ODI history, trailing the legendary Master Blaster. Virat Kohli marked his 35th birthday by smashing a fifty which helped him bring up his 119th fifty-plus score in the ODI format, while Sachin has the most fifty-plus scores at 145.
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While Tendulkar’s incredible 145 fifty-plus scores came in 452 innings whereas Kohli achieved his 119 fifty-plus scores in just 289 innings.
The Delhi-born talismanic batter also neared in on Kumar Sangakkara’s score in the all-time highest run scorers list in the World Cup. Virat was also close to equalling Sachin’s tally of 49 ODI hundreds, having missed a century by 12 runs against Sri Lanka at Wankhede Stadium.
Kohli stitched together a 100-run partnership with Shreyas Iyer against South Africa, helping India recover after a slump in the middle overs after an explosive start.
Indian skipper Rohit Sharma had won the toss and he opted to bat first, hoping to take his side to an eighth win in the group stage. The Hitman smashed 40 runs in just 24 balls as India collected 91 runs in the first ten overs.
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South Africa bounced back with a period of sustained pressure with disciplined bowling from Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi, as Shubman Gill was dismissed on 23 after which Kohli and Iyer charted India’s recovery course back into the contest.
Virat Kohli also completed 6,000 runs in ODIs in India with an average of 60 as the legendary batter marked his birthday by surpassing numerous milestones.
Courtesy of his brilliant knock on Sunday, Kohli also surpassed the 500-run mark during the ongoing World Cup 2023, becoming the first Asian batter to cross the milestone.
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