The good Virat Kohli has added one other string to his bow, notching up his forty ninth ODI century on his thirty fifth birthday to go stage with Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar. With India gunning for his or her eighth-straight win within the 2023 ODI World Cup, Kohli took management and achieved the feat in simply his 277th innings, an unbelievable 174 fewer than Tendulkar, who took 451 innings to succeed in the mark.
A capability crowd at Eden Gardens, and tons of of thousands and thousands watching on-line and on tv celebrated one more Kohli hundred. After an excellent early onslught by Rohit Sharma towards the South Africa quick bowlers, Virat settled in and held the Indian innings collectively on a difficult Kolkata pitch. On a floor that provided flip and inconsistent tempo, Kohli rotated strike magnificently, partnering with Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja to assist take India to a formidable 326/5.
The knock was additionally testomony to Kohli’s supreme health. Situations have been sapping and unforgiving all through this World Cup, with testing warmth and humidity throughout the nation. Nonetheless, Virat by no means let up, ending with simply ten fours in his 101 with the remainder in singles and twos.
Reactions to Virat Kohli’s forty ninth ODI century: Star quantity 3 leads the way in which as India thump high-flying South Africa
From there, India by no means let up. Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj stored issues tight early, with the latter getting the important thing wicket of Quinton de Kock. Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja took over, with the left-arm spinner ending with excellent figures of 5/33 because the Proteas had completely no respite towards a relentless assault.
The defeat raises additional questions round South Africa’s capacity to chase totals. As they dominate groups when batting first, the Proteas have misplaced two matches when batting second (towards Netherlands and India) and scraped home by one wicket against Pakistan.
“Nicely performed Virat. It took me twelve months to go from 49 to 50 earlier this yr. I hope you go from 49 to 50 and break my file within the subsequent few days. Congratulations!!” tweeted cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar.
India marked one other day of dominance with an excellent 243-run win over South Africa. Their remaining group recreation is towards the Netherlands at Bengaluru. South Africa will go up towards high-flying Afghanistan at Ahmedabad earlier than the semi-finals.
