Virat Kohli turned 35 today, and India’s Chase Master treated us with his 49th ODI century, equalling Sachin Tendulkar’s record of most centuries in ODI cricket. He entered the pitch in the fifth over after Captain Rohit Sharma’s dismissal and stayed till the very end, forming important partnerships, taking India’s total to 326 runs against South Africa.
Thirteen years back, Kohli has tweeted promising he’d be scoring many more runs for his team.
Looking forward to scoring lots of runs for my Team..
— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) March 16, 2010
And the rest is history…
What made his century today even more special was not only his birthday but also the fact he equalled Master Blaster’s record in Kolkata’s Eden Gardens, the same place where he scored his maiden ODI century in 2009 against Sri Lanka. It’s like life came full circle.
Naturally, fans were exhilarated, and they were quick to take to social media and react.
Virat Kohli scoring a century on his birthday pic.twitter.com/lTycZG8K6S
— Sagar (@sagarcasm) November 5, 2023
History created by Kohli . Greatest batsman of all time in modern Era #ViratKohli𓃵 #KingKohli #kohli #INDvSA #Sachin #hundred https://t.co/a4iFKpxKz6
— aravind mani (@vearavind) November 5, 2023
Truly 🐐 Happy birthday Kohli!!! https://t.co/xEaKS56XUm
— icurius (@iCurius) November 5, 2023
Regardless of if you get it or not, it is incredible how over a billion people can obsess, hang on to & get genuinely high on one man having a good day at work as India does with Virat Kohli making a century. An extraordinary case study. An extraordinary player #IndvSA #CWC23
— Bharat Sundaresan (@beastieboy07) November 5, 2023
Records in cricket are meant to be broken but breaking this record was the wildest dream for any batter and tonight Virat Kohli has done it what he was destined to do.
— Syed Ali Imran (@syedaliimran) November 5, 2023
Virat stands tall tonight in Eden Gardens Kolkata as the man with the most ODI 100s equalling the record of the… pic.twitter.com/6gKfoeDDUz
49TH ODI HUNDRED BY KING KOHLI….!!!
— Jago India (@JagoIndia_) November 5, 2023
The birthday boy has delivered at the Eden Gardens – under tough circumstances, he was struggling, but yet again put on a show. pic.twitter.com/SAuRr4Z43F
Finally the most awaited 49th ODI ton equalling Sachin Tendulkar record. Virat Kohli has CONQUERED ODI cricket ❤️😭🐐 pic.twitter.com/fxfQ27lwzS
— Pari (@BluntIndianGal) November 5, 2023
Virat Kohli walking towards the greatness where no one has touched in cricket history.
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) November 5, 2023
– The GOAT 🐐 pic.twitter.com/5wRDvh5BBs
Virat Kohli the man the myth the legend.
— Ashutosh Srivastava 🇮🇳 (@sri_ashutosh08) November 5, 2023
49th ODI century and 79th international hundred for The GOAT The King Kohli 🤴
The Greatest Of All Time The King 👑
विराट कोहली #INDvsSA #GOAT𓃵#ViratKohli𓃵 #Selfish#KingKohli #ViratKohli #HappyBirthdayViratKohli #Chokli pic.twitter.com/5jPqtwrJVm
From idolizing Sachin to breaking his record, do you all realise how iconic this moment is 😭❤️ #ViratKohli𓃵 pic.twitter.com/RrfmgoI0ye
— WHO'S THE GOAT (@BreatheKohli) November 5, 2023
Virat Kohli is a phenomenon. He’s a whirlwind of passion, strength, and perseverance.