After missing out on several occasions in the last few matches, Virat Kohli finally crossed the three-figure mark for the 49th time in his ODI career, becoming just the second batter to do so after Sachin Tendulkar.

Batting first against South Africa in a clash of the two table toppers, India got off to a blazing start, reaching 61-0 in five overs. Kohli arrived at the crease in the sixth over at the score of 62-1.

With the Eden Gardens surface aiding spin and Keshav Maharaj finding the right areas, scoring was tough to start with for Kohli. However, he calmly negotiated the tricky period along with Shreyas Iyer, stitching a 134-run partnership for the third wicket.

As India’s innings progressed, the pitch got tougher to bat on. Kohli, however, didn’t throw his wicket away and stayed right till the end. His first 50 came off 66 balls, while his second took another 53 deliveries.

[caption id=”attachment_590780″ align=”alignnone” width=”1024″] Virat Kohli put on a show at the Eden Gardens[/caption]

Previously, Kohli had missed out on two opportunities of scoring his 49th hundred, getting dismissed for 95 against New Zealand and 88 against Sri Lanka.

With this century, Kohli has now equaled Tendulkar’s world record of 49 ODI hundreds. No one in the history of cricket has scored more in ODIs.

That this milestone has come on his birthday makes it all the more special. In fact, this was just his second ODI hundred at the Eden Gardens with the previous one being the very first international century he scored way back in 2009 against Sri Lanka.

Kohli finished the innings unbeaten on 101 off 121 balls, taking India to a score of 326-5 on a surface that was “a bit tricky to bat on” in his own words.

With this knock, Kohli’s tally in the 2023 World Cup now adds up to 543 runs from eight innings at an average of 108.6. Six of his eight innings have seen him cross 50 and after the mid-innings break, he is just two runs behind Quinton de Kock on the highest run-scorers list in this World Cup.