Former team India skipper Virat Kohli could not have begun the new year on a better note, as he smashed his 45th ODI century, against Sri Lanka during the first ODI at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati.
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With this ton today, Kohli has equalled the record of the legendary batter Sachin Tendulkar, for smashing the most centuries in the format in a country – 20.
Moreover, in what was his ninth ODI century against Sri Lanka, the 34-year-old has also now become only the second player to hit maximum tons against a particular country, again equalling Tendulkar record of nine ODI tons against Australia.
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Coming in to bat at his usual no.3 in the batting order after Sri Lankan skipper Dasun Shanaka elected to bowl first, Kohli cashed in on the wonderful platform laid by the opening batting pair of skipper Rohit Sharma (83 off 67) and Shubman Gill (70 off 60), who stitched together a 143-run partnership.
Playing his typical 50-Over knock and with the assistance of a little bit of luck, Kohli headed back towards the dressing only after scoring 113 runs off 87 deliveries, with the help of 12 Fours and a Six.
Virat Kohli No of centuries
Virat Kohli is now just four centuries shy of equalling Sachin Tendulkar’s world record of 49 centuries in the format. Having smashed a century exactly a month ago during his previous ODI against Bangladesh as well, Kohli now has a wonderful opportunity to perform a repeat of smashing a hat-trick of ODI tons, with the previous one coming four years ago against West Indies.
Notably, Kohli had also ended his more than 1000 days wait of an international century by hitting his maiden T20 format ton against Afghanistan, during the Asia Cup 2022 fixture a couple of months ago.
With 27 centuries in the Test format as well, Virat Kohli now has a total of 73 international centuries under his name.
