After he broke Sachin Tendulkar’s world record to become the first to reach fifty ODI hundreds, Virat Kohli described the occasion as being a “perfect picture”.

In the 2023 World Cup semi-final against New Zealand, Virat Kohli made 117 in 113 balls. In the process, he became the first to score fifty hundreds in ODI history. He broke the long-standing record of Sachin Tendulkar in the latter’s hometown of Mumbai.

Kohli celebrated the world record, first by raising his bat, then by bowing down to Tendulkar in the stands and blowing a kiss at his wife Anushka Sharma.

Buoyed by blitzes from Rohit Sharma (47 in 29 balls), Shubman Gill (80 not out in 66), Shreyas Iyer (105 in 70), and KL Rahul (39 not out in 20), India amassed 397-5.

Tendulkar tweeted a congratulatory message and, between innings, congratulated Kohli in person. ICC commentator Anjum Chopra then asked Kohli how he felt about the innings.

“The great man [Tendulkar] just congratulated me,” responded Kohli. “It feels like a dream, honestly. It’s too good to be true, feels surreal, I never thought I’d be here, ever, in my career.”

Kohli also became the first to reach fifty eight times in a single edition of the World Cup. Kohli explained his consistency: “A big game today [so] I had to, kind of, play the role I played throughout the tournament, so that the guys around me can express themselves. Just glad that everything came together so nicely: we put up a great total on the board as well.

“The most important thing is to make my team win, and whatever it takes to do that, I’m ready to do that. Whether it’s running singles and doubles, hitting boundaries. I’ve been given a role in this tournament, and I’m trying to play that to the best of my abilities, trying to dig deep, bat long, so that the others can play around me.”

“[I] have that confidence that I’m going into the late overs where I can dominate with the bat as well. That’s the only key to consistency: just playing according to the situation, playing for your team at all times.”

When Chopra asked what he felt like, Kohli had a rare display of emotions: “Anushka was sitting right there. Sachin-paaji was there in the stands. It’s very difficult for me to explain this, but if I could paint a perfect picture, I would want this to be the picture: my life partner, the person I love the most, she is sitting there; my hero, he is sitting there; and I was able to get the 50th in front of all of them and all these fans in Wankhede, a historic ground.”

Did India score enough? “In a big game, anything over 330-340 you’re happy with, but to get to 400 [397-4] is amazing,” assured Kohli. “Lot of credit has to go to Shreyas [for] the way he came out and batted freely. Shubman at the top, Rohit at the top … KL finishing with a flurry … I think everyone did their roles to perfection and did the job for the team.

“I think, it was, from us, a perfect batting performance, but just one half of the game is done. We still got to go out there and be professional with the ball and do the things we have done in the tournament so far.”

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