King Kolhi stands tall in WC semifinal vs NZ enroute record breaking 50th century

• A Business Insider poll had seen 86% fans believing that Kohli would get to the milestone in this World Cup.
• Kohli’s consistency is such that he has reached the ‘50-centuries in ODIs’ mark in merely 279 innings.
• Kohli has also become the batsman to have scored the maximum runs in a single edition of an ODI WC.

India’s star batsman, Virat Kohli has not let his childhood idol Sachin Tendulkar down. A few days ago, on November 5, 2023 to be precise, the Little Master had wished Kohli to quickly go from 49 to 50 one-day international centuries after the latter equalled his record. Kohli took 10 days to fulfill Tendulkar’s wish. Kolhi made 117 in 113 balls helping India post a total of 397/4 against in the first semifinal of the ICC World Cup 2023.

Batting first, Kohli brought up his century on a slow Wankhade wicket and helped India negotiate the middle overs of the Indian innings, first with Shubman Gill and then with Shreyas Iyer, who got a second consecutive century in the tournament himself.

It is only befitting that Sachin Tendulkar was in attendance to see Kohli go past his record, which not long ago seemed ungettable. Such has been Kohli’s consistency that he has reached the 50-centuries in ODIs mark in merely 279 innings. Compare this to Tendulkar’s 472 innings to reach 49 centuries and then fathom that the next best on the chart, Rohit Sharma has 31 hundreds.

A Business Insider poll had seen 86% of fans believing that Kohli would get to the milestone in this World Cup.



Kohli, also went on to break another important record by Tendulkar. Sachin Tendulkar had scored 673 runs in 11 matches in the 2003 World Cup edition, the maximum for a single edition of the World Cup. Kolhi today went past this mark in the 10 innings he has played in the current tournament.

Kohli and records, a love affair

From his early days, when he led India to a U19 World Cup victory in 2008 and made his international debut in the same year, Virat has consistently dominated headlines with his extraordinary run-scoring ability. Though his earliest admirers and observers had no doubts about his greatness, Virat has broken records, chased runs and won matches single-handedly at a frequency rarely seen before in world cricket.

Virat has represented India in 111 Tests, scoring 8,676 runs at an average of 49.29. He has scored 29 centuries and 29 fifties, with best score of 254*. He is India's fifth-highest scorer in Tests. Sachin is the highest Test run-scorer with 15,921 runs.

The Delhi-born batter is India's most successful Test captain ever. With 40 wins, 17 losses and 11 draws in 68 games, Virat boasts of an incredible resume as a captain. Under his captaincy, India earned five successive ICC World Test Championship maces, ending as the top-ranked side of the season for five successive years.

While delving into the raw statistics, it becomes abundantly clear that Virat might just be the finest ODI batsman ever.

During successful run-chases in ODIs, Virat has scored 5,786 runs at an average of 90.40 in 102 matches, with 23 centuries and 25 fifties in 96 innings.

He is also the fastest to achieve milestones of 8,000 to 13,000 ODI runs.

Virat has led India in 95 ODIs, winning 65, losing 27, one tied and two ending in no results.