Legendary batter Sachin Tendulkar has extended his wishes to Virat Kohli on breaking his 49 ODI centuries record in the ODI World Cup semifinal at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Wednesday. Kohli became the first-ever batter in international cricket to score 50 ODI centuries, surpassing his idol Tendulkar on the veteran's home ground.
In a heartfelt note on social media, Tendulkar shared a fond memory with star batter when he first saw him in the dressing room.
The veteran cricketer lauded Kohli's remarkable journey from young boy to breaking his historic knock that too in the World Cup semifinal. Kohli played a knock of 117 studded with two sixes and nine fours. Just after completing his century, Kohli bowed to Sachin Tendulkar, who was sitting at Wankhede stands.
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"The first time I met you in the Indian dressing room, you were pranked by other teammates into touching my feet. I couldn’t stop laughing that day. But soon, you touched my heart with your passion and skill. I am so happy that that young boy has grown into a ‘Virat’ player," Tendulkar wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
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The first time I met you in the Indian dressing room, you were pranked by other teammates into touching my feet. I couldn’t stop laughing that day. But soon, you touched my heart with your passion and skill. I am so happy that that young boy has grown into a ‘Virat’ player.
— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) November 15, 2023
I… pic.twitter.com/KcdoPwgzkX
"I couldn’t be happier that an Indian broke my record. And to do it on the biggest stage - in the World Cup Semi-final - and at my home ground is the icing on the cake," he added.
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Kohli also overtook Tendulkar's all-time World Cup record of most runs in a single edition. Before the start of the Indian, he was 80 runs short of surpassing Tendulkar's 673 runs that he hammered in the 2003 edition of the mega event.
Kohli is now leading the run-charts with 711 runs in 10 innings of the World Cup at an impressive average of 101.57 including three centuries and five fifties. He is the only batter to touch the 700-run mark in the single edition of the quadrennial event.
The 35-year-old also overtook Ricky Ponting in the highest run-getter tally in ODIs. Kohli now has 13,794 ODI runs, breaking Ponting's 13,704 runs in the 50-over format.
He is only behind Kumar Sangakkara (14,234) and Sachin Tendulkar (18,426) in the highest ODI run-getters tally.