'Hope You Go From 49 to 50 in Next Few Days': Sachin Tendulkar After Virat Kohli's Historic Century

Batting great Sachin Tendulkar shared a congratulatory post for Virat Kohli for equaling his massive record of most ODI centuries – 49. Kohli achieved the feat with a 101-run* knock against South Africa in the World Cup match at Eden Gardens. It was Kohli’s 35th birthday and he made sure to register the special day in record books with a gritty century.

Kohli fought hard on a tricky batting surface and scored his second century in this World Cup to make it 49th in ODIs which only two players have achieved – him and Tendulkar.

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However, Kohli took 175 innings less to hit the record-equalling ton in the One Day Internationals.

Most 100s in ODIs

49 – Virat Kohli (277 innings)

49 – Sachin Tendulkar (452 innings)

Tendulkar took to social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, to share a special message for Kohli and wished him to score his 50th ODI century in the next coming days.

“Well played Virat. It took me 365 days to go from 49 to 50 earlier this year. I hope you go from 49 to 50 and break my record in the next few days. Congratulations!! #INDvSA,” he wrote.

Meanwhile, it was Kohli’s joint-slowest century in ODIs – 119 balls, alongside Adelaide 2015 (vs Pakistan) and Cape Town 2018 (vs South Africa). However, the conditions were not very easy for batting against the spinners and Kohli made sure to hold one end. His century helped India post a challenging 326/5 in 50 overs.

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Kohli is currently second on the list of most runs in the ongoing edition of the World Cup with 543 runs and he is just two runs short of table-topper Quinton de Kock.

Kohli came out to bat in the sixth over after Kagiso Rabada got the better of India skipper Rohit Sharma on 40. The 35-year-old was off the mark with a sensational cover drive which raced away for a boundary in no time. He remained unbeaten on 101 as he completed his century in 119 balls which was laced with 10 fours.