At the 2023 World Cup, India‘s best batsman, Virat Kohli, achieved his 48th century in ODIs against Bangladesh. Though Kohli’s focus appeared to be altering as he sought the three-figure milestone, India appeared to be on their way to a fourth straight title. Since entering the game in the twelfth over, Kohli has played his innings with practically perfect timing, a skill he has shown throughout his career.
With 19 runs needed to win and 100 to accomplish, Kohli began his century chase. Kohli stopped numerous singles in the closing overs, and KL Rahul, who doesn’t bowl, thanked him. Kohli is 34. Kohli aggressively jogged less between wickets and more to get boundaries to reach his milestone.
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But no Kohli inning is complete without his magnificent one-ball-to-two-ball conversion. Kohli stunned the audience in the penultimate over by slamming two rapid twos and showing his stamina and athleticism. This ended Kohli’s relentless century-long pursuit perfectly. India easily defeated Nasum Ahmed in Pune because of Virat Kohli’s magnificent six. He was one run shy of the three-figure mark and needed two more runs to win and reach his century.
Naturally, the fans went crazy as Kohli proved why he is one of the best ODI batsmen ever. Kohli’s 48th century was one wicket short of Sachin Tendulkar‘s 49th in ODIs. Tendulkar’s 100 is the best, but Kohli’s 78th international century was dominant. However, the Indian celebrity accomplished more. After his century against Bangladesh, Kohli became the fourth-highest international cricket scorer, surpassing Mahela Jayawardene. He trails only Kumar Sangakkara (28,016 runs), Sachin Tendulkar (34,357 runs), and Ricky Ponting (27,483 runs) in this select group.
However, this was hardly the evening’s biggest turning point. Even though he is two centuries short of the 50th ODI century, Kohli broke another Tendulkar record during his innings, another remarkable achievement. Later, he scored 26,000 runs in the fastest time in international cricket. Kohli, who is undefeated in international cricket, reached this milestone with 26,026 runs in his 567th international innings, 34 innings short of Tendulkar’s 601 innings.
The night was not over for Kohli. Kohli defeated Brian Lara and Rohit Sharma to become the fourth-highest ODI World Cup run scorer. After this, only Tendulkar (2278 runs), Ponting (1743 runs), and Sangakkara (1531 runs) have more ODI World Cup experience than Kohli.
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