Continuing his unprecedented feat-achieving record in One-Day Internationals, Indian run-machine Virat Kohli, on Sunday (October 22), added yet another feather to his already illustrious cap by surpassing the legendary Ricky Ponting’s tally of 30 centuries.
The India skipper walked into bat when the in-form Shikhar Dhawan departed cheaply. India’s position further deteriorated when Rohit Sharma also returned to the pavilion with just 29 runs on the board. In fact, the following batsmen – Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni and the man of the moment Hardik Pandya too failed to capitalise on the starts.
However, Kohli held firm from one end and compiled one of his best centuries till date to help the team post a challenging 280 for eight in the allotted 50 overs. His stunning innings came off 125 balls and was studded with nine fours and a couple of sixes.
The uncharacteristically slow yet impressive knock, nonetheless, helped Kohli to become only the second player in the ODI history to score a century in his 200th One-Day International after South Africa’s Ab de Villiers. Kohli also became the second leading centurion in the 50-over format and is now behind only his former illustrious teammate Sachin Tendulkar.
And Kohli’s day became even more special when Tendulkar himself took to Twitter to laud his efforts.
“Superb effort to get to a ton in your 200th match, @imVkohli! A rather special innings?,” the legendary batsman tweeted.
Superb effort to get to a ton in your 200th match, @imVkohli! A rather special innings? pic.twitter.com/0IDO3fwkUZ
— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) October 22, 2017