World Cup: Virat scripts history, becomes 1st batter to hit 50 ODI tons

Virat Kohli crossed Sachin Tendulkar's 49 centuries record as he hit a century against New Zealand at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai

Charismatic batter Virat Kohli created history on Wednesday (November 15) as he became the first batter in international cricket to hit fifty hundreds in ODI cricket. Kohli hit the century against New Zealand in the first semi-final of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. He reached the milestone in 106 balls.

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After equalling legendary Sachin Tendulkar’s record for most centuries (49) in ODIs at the Eden Gardens against South Africa, Kohli reached the milestone in his 291st ODI.

Virat Kohli’s list of centuries in ODIs

#	Score	Against	Venue	Date
1	107	Sri Lanka	Eden Gardens, Kolkata	Dec 24,2009
2	102*	Bangladesh	Sher-e-Bangla Cricket Stadium, Dhaka	Jan 11, 2010
3	118	Australia	APCA-VDCA Stadium, Visakhapatnam	Oct 20, 2010
4	105	New Zealand	Nehru Stadium, Guwahati	Nov 28, 2010
5	100*	Bangladesh	Sher-e-Bangla Cricket Stadium, Dhaka	Feb 19, 2011
6	107	England	Sophia Gardens, Cardiff	Sep 16, 2011
7	112*	England	Feroz Shah Kotla Ground, Delhi	Oct 17, 2011
8	117	West Indies	APCA-VDCA Stadium, Visakhapatnam	Dec 02, 2011
9	133*	Sri Lanka	Bellerive Oval, Hobart	Feb 28, 2012
10	108	Sri Lanka	Sher-e-Bangla Cricket Stadium, Dhaka	Mar 13, 2012
11	183	Pakistan	Sher-e-Bangla Cricket Stadium, Dhaka	Mar 18, 2012
12	106	Sri Lanka	MRIC Stadium, Hambantota	Jul 21, 2012
13	128*	Sri Lanka	R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo	Jul 31, 2012
14	102	West Indies	Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain	Jul 05, 2013
15	115	Zimbabwe	Harare Sports Club, Harare	Jul 24, 2013
16	100*	Australia	Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur	Oct 16, 2013
17	115*	Australia	VCA Stadium, Nagpur	Oct 30, 2013
18	123	New Zealand	McLean Park, Napier	Jan 19, 2014
19	136	Bangladesh	Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium, Fatullah	Feb 26, 2014
20	127	West Indies	HPCA Stadium, Dharamshala	Oct 17, 2014
21	139*	Sri Lanka	JSCA International Stadium, Ranchi	Nov 16, 2014
22	107	Pakistan	Adelaide Oval, Adelaide	Feb 15, 2015
23	138	South Africa	M.A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai	Oct 22, 2015
24	117	Australia	Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne	Jan 17,2016
25	106	Australia	Manuka Oval, Canberra	Jan 20, 2016
26	154*	New Zealand	Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium, Mohali	Oct 23, 2016
27	122	England	Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune	Jan 15, 2017
28	111*	West Indies	Sabina Park, Kingston	Jul 06, 2017
29	131	Sri Lanka	R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo	Aug 31, 2017
30	110*	Sri Lanka	R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo	Sep 03, 2017
31	121	New Zealand	Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai	Oct 22, 2017
32	113	New Zealand	Green Park Stadium, Kanpur	Oct 29, 2017
33	112	South Africa	Kingsmead Cricket Ground, Durban	Feb 01, 2018
34	160*	South Africa	Newlands Cricket Ground, Cape Town	Feb 07, 2018
35	129*	South Africa	SuperSport Park, Centurion	Feb 16, 2018
36	140	West Indies	ACA Stadium, Guwahati	Oct 21, 2018
37	157*	West Indies	ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam	Oct 24, 2018
38	107	West Indies	Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune	Oct 27, 2018
39	104	Australia	Adelaide Oval, Adelaide	Jan 15, 2019
40	116	Australia	Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur	Mar 05, 2019
41	123	Australia	JSCA International Stadium, Ranchi	Mar 08, 2019
42	120	West Indies	Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain	Aug 11, 2019
43	114*	West Indies	Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain	Aug 14, 2019
44	113	Bangladesh	Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chattogram	Dec 10, 2022
45	113	Sri Lanka	Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati	Jan 10, 2023
46	166*	Sri Lanka	Greenfield International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram	Jan 15, 2023
47	122*	Pakistan	R.Premadasa Stadium, Khettarama, Colombo	Sep 11, 2023
48	103*	Bangladesh	Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune	Oct 19, 2023
49	101*	South Africa	Eden Gardens, Kolkata	Nov 05, 2023
50	107*	New Zealand	Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai	Nov 15, 2023

What next for Kohli?

The biggest aim for Virat Kohli has always been to win the World Cup. Now that he has already completed his fifty centuries, his only aim is to win the World Cup. In the World Cup, he went past Sachin Tendlukar’s record for most runs in a single edition of the World Cup after going past the 80-run mark. Kohli has scored 693 runs and counting in the 2023 World Cup, getting past the 673 runs that Sachin scored in 11 matches durig the 2003 World Cup. Sachin was in attendance watching the match as his records were broken. 

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Will he break Sachin's record of 100 centuries?

Sachin scored 100 centuries, and Virat, at 80 tons, is only 20 centuries away from that target. However, will he be able to cross that mark, something that only time could tell?

After scoring the 49th century, Kohli said, “To equal my hero’s record in ODIs is something that is a huge honour for me. I know that people like comparisons but I am never going to be as good as him [Sachin]. There’s a reason why we’ve all looked up to him. He’s perfection when it comes to batting... he’s always going to be my hero regardless of what happens.”

“It’s a very emotional moment for me. I know where I come from, I know the days that I’ve watched him play on TV, so just to stand here and get this appreciation from someone like him means a lot to me,” he added.