Follow UsVirat Kohli celebrated his 35th birthday in some style, crafting an unbeaten 101 against South Africa in Kolkata on Sunday (November 5) and equalling Sachin Tendulkar's world record of 49 ODI hundreds. While it took Tendulkar 451 innings to get his 49th hundred, Kohli has got there in just 277 innings.
"It is all too much for me to take in now, to equal my hero’s record is something special for me. I will never be as good as him. He is perfection when it comes to batting. It’s a very emotional moment for me, I know where I come from, I know the days where I have been, watching him on TV. Just to get that appreciation from him means a lot to me," said Kohli after scoring his second century of the 2023 World Cup.
"Every opportunity to play for India is big one for me. To be able to do that on my birthday, in front of the whole crowd, it's stuff of dreams, something that as a child you wish had happened. I am very grateful to God that I have been blessed with these kinds of moments, so much love from the fans as well and just continue to help the team in any way possible.
"It was a big game, probably playing the toughest team in the tournament. There was a motivation to do well. Because it happened on my birthday, it becomes special and the people made it more special for me. I did wake up with the excitement that today is not just another game."
India got off to a rapid start in the powerplay, with Rohit Sharma blasting 40 off 24 deliveries. The Men in Blue were 91/1 at the end of 10 overs and then lost Shubman Gill in the 11th over. "It was a tricky wicket to bat on," Kohli said.
"We got a great start through Rohit and Shubman, and then when I got in, my job was to keep that momentum going, but as soon as the ten overs got over, the ball started gripping and the wicket started slowing down as the ball got older.”
India needed a partnership and Kohli found an able ally in Shreyas Iyer. The two put on 134 runs for the third wicket before cameos from Suryakumar Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja got India well past 300. India ended up with a total of 326/5 in their 50 overs.
"Our roles are different - me and Shreyas, we wanted to string in a partnership, and to be honest, as soon as we lost Shubman and Rohit within ten overs, my role was to bat deep and bat till the end because that's what I have done over the years.
“That's what the communication from the team was well; I bat and guys bat around me and then Shreyas started hitting a few. So, we were not thinking that we would get 327 (326) but that's what happens when you dig deep and you take the game into the last few overs then you can get a few more than you thought."
Talking further about the partnership, Kohli said: “We had a lot of practice sessions before we went to the Asia Cup. I and Shreyas invariably batted together, because No. 3 and 4, against spinners. And I spoke to him, 'This is the partnership that has to take centre stage through the middle overs'. So both of us are pretty comfortable rotating the strike against spinners. Whatever loose balls he got, he put them away, credit to him.
"As I said, when you lose two wickets and don't have Hardik (Pandya) in your team, you need to bat deep and make sure that you get to a stage where the opposition feels like we have to restrict them, rather than thinking we are one wicket away from 30 runs lesser than what we had to chase. He batted beautifully according to the situation and strike rotation was the key."
Kohli has been in some form in this World Cup, having amassed 543 runs in eight innings at an average of 108.60 and a strike rate of 88.29. He has four fifties and two centuries in this event.
In the second innings, Indian bowlers wreaked havoc and bundled out South Africa for just 83. Jadeja claimed five wickets, while Mohammed Shami and Kuldeep Yadav took two each. India eventually won by 243 runs. "Once we got more than 315, we knew that we were above par," said Kohli.