New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson was at a loss for words when praising Indian batting prodigy Virat Kohli for being the first batter in history to score 50 hundreds in one-day international cricket (ODI) after surpassing the great Sachin Tendulkar.
With the brilliant 117 runs against New Zealand, Virat Kohli broke the mark he shared with the great Sachin Tendulkar. The legendary Indian batter was among those who cheered as he did so at the Wankhede Stadium, the home field for his former India teammate.
In a press conference after Kohli’s century and India’s crushing win against New Zealand, skipper Kane Williamson heaped praise on Virat Kohli for his brilliance in ODI Cricket and believes that the Indian batsman will only get better with time.
“(I am) trying to find the words to describe it really, and not just that, actually the way he goes about it, it is about winning games for his team and he is getting close and there is a lot of attention and that comes with a lot of his success,” Kane Williamson said.
“He is the best, isn’t he? And he seems to be getting better, which is a worry for the opposition all around the world, but you admire it,” Kane Williamson added.
The right-handed batter scored his 48th century against Bangladesh and narrowly missed tying Tendulkar’s record for the most ODI tons versus Sri Lanka and New Zealand but played brilliantly well to score his 49th ODI hundred against South Africa and 50th hundred against New Zealand in the semifinals.
With Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill giving a blistering start. Virat Kohli scored a brilliant century, which played a significant role in India’s 397/4 at the end of the 50 overs. The 35-year-old now holds the record for most 50-plus scores in any World Cup of cricket, having scored eight of them or more in the 2023 competition.
Virat Kohli also overtook Sachin Tendulkar to become the batter with the highest number of runs in a single World Cup edition during his performance against New Zealand.
Sachin Tendulkar, who scored 673 runs in 11 World Cup matches, held the record for 20 years. The Indian batting maestro is the first batter in history to score more than 700 runs. In ten innings, he has scored 711 runs at an average of 101.57 with five fifties and three hundreds.
