'Sachin spent many sleepless nights...': Shastri invokes Tendulkar-Gavaskar as Kohli hits 49th century
Ravi Shastri detailed Virat Kohli's record-equalling 49th ODI century against South Africa in the World Cup 2023.
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On Sunday, the star batter for Team India, Virat Kohli, scored a century in one-day international competition for the 49th time, tying the record held by India's all-time great Sachin Tendulkar for the most hundreds scored in this format. At the historic Eden Gardens in Kolkata, where Kohli was celebrating his 35th birthday, he reached the record in 119 balls, hitting 10 fours along the way.
In a match against Sri Lanka in 2009, while Kohli was playing at the same location, he scored his first century in a One-Day International match. It had taken him 277 innings to score 49 hundreds in the format, but it had taken Tendulkar 438 innings to do the same thing.
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After Kohli's monumental achievement on Sunday, India's former head coach Ravi Shastri heaped admiration on the batter and drew comparisons to the time when Sachin Tendulkar, often known as the "master blaster," was attempting to break Sunil Gavaskar's record for most consecutive centuries scored in Test matches. Tendulkar tied Gavaskar in 2004 for the record of most tons scored in the longest format with 34, which had previously been held by the India legend.
"I can't believe it. Record collecting is a national pastime in the United States. Our fixation is on dozens of hundreds. And Sunny was the one who started the trend. When Sachin Tendulkar was trying to get his 34th, I recall that it wasn't an easy task. He suffered through a great deal of insomnia and would finally break out of it in the 1970s and 1980s.
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And it took some time, just like it has taken Virat Kohli," Shastri said during the mid-innings show on Star Sports following Kohli's century, which equaled the record for the most runs scored in an innings.
"Today's innings were played with a lot of strategy. When the ball was approaching the bat, he got an early and quick start. And after the ball began to drip, it became far more difficult to select the bowlers. As a result, he took the pressure in stride, bided his time, and then raised the stakes," Shastri explained further.
This was Kohli's second century in the ongoing World Cup tournament; his first century came against Bangladesh a month ago (103*). Kohli has had an outstanding performance so far in the World Cup.
He also has five half-centuries in the 2023 tournament. Kohli came very close to equaling Tendulkar's record twice, once against New Zealand and once against Sri Lanka. He has five half-centuries in the 2023 tournament. However, he was dismissed with only five runs remaining until he reached his century against the New Zealanders. In Mumbai, he hit an impressive 88 runs against the islanders.
