In celebration of his 35th birthday, Star Indian batter Virat Kohli was presented with a golden bat by the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. India defeated South Africa by 243 runs in the ongoing ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023, due to the brilliant batting by Virat Kohli on a two-paced wicket and his record-tying 49th ODI century.
Virat Kohli, the master of Indian cricket, celebrated turning 35 years old in style by defeating South Africa to score a record-tying 49th One Day International (ODI) century. The Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president, Snehasish Ganguly, brought a touch of refinement to the big occasion by giving Kohli a gold-plated bat that was evocative of the famed Sachin Tendulkar collection.
The crowd was elated as Virat Kohli showed off his exceptional batsmanship and delivered. The day was made even more amazing when the CAB president handed Kohli the laboriously made gold-plated bat, with them wishing the Indian batting maestro for his birthday.
Along with celebrating his 35th birthday in style, Kohli reached his 49th ODI century and tied the record for most hundreds in the 50-over format with the legendary Sachin Tendulkar and became the third batter in World Cup history to score a century on his birthday.
In the ongoing ODI World Cup, Virat Kohli has been dismissed on 95 against New Zealand in Dharamsala and on 88 against Sri Lanka at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. He has thus missed out on reaching the milestone twice but played exceptionally well on a tough wicket in Eden Gardens to score his record century, making it a special day for Indian cricket.
This is the first ODI World Cup when Virat Kohli has scored more than 500 runs and has ever recorded two centuries in a single competition, with him playing his fourth consecutive ODI World Cup after winning the championship in 2011 and the Indian veteran has been the key to the team success in the mega event.
India scored 326 for 6 in the first innings, with Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer being the top scorers for the team alongside Rohit Sharma providing a blistering start to the innings. With 327 runs, South Africa found no answers to the Indian bowling as they were bundled out for just 83 runs and the Men in Blue would be keen to finish the league stage on high, when they take on Netherlands on November 12th in Bangalore.
