Virat Kohli: Unmatched Excellence in Every Aspect of ODI Cricket

In the IND vs NZ World Cup semis, Virat Kohli slammed yet another ODI ton, and broke a slew of records on Wednesday.

It isn’t just the record for most ODI centuries that Virat Kohli broke during the IND vs NZ World Cup semis, but a host of other records as well. But let’s address the elephant in the room first. On Wednesday, Kohli surpassed Sachin Tendulkar’s tally of 49 ODI centuries, to score his 50th. With Kohli & Tendulkar at the helm, the others in the list are quite far behind. After the terrific duo, it is India skipper Rohit Sharma, who has three tons.

As per a report in Cricbuzz, he is followed by Ricky Ponting at 30, and Sanath Jayasuriya at 28. So it is a big wedge that Kohli has created now, from his competitors, which doesn’t seem to be broken by the current crop of players.

Virat Kohli – 50 (279 innings)

Sachin Tendulkar – 49 (452 innings)

Rohit Sharma – 31 (253 innings)

Ricky Ponting – 30 (365 innings)

Sanath Jayasuriya – 28 (433 innings)

6 This is Kohli’s sixth ton in ODIs against the Kiwis, with the last one coming way back in 2018. His first against New Zealand came in 2010, where he scored 105 runs.

119 Surprisingly, the most balls the former India skipper has taken to reach 100 is 119 balls, with both instances coming against South Africa. The recent one came during the World Cup 2023.

1214 After scoring his 43rd ton against the West Indies in 2019, Kohli had to wait over 1200 days to score his next ODI ton, which came in December 2022, against Bangladesh.

It is hardly a doubt that the 35-year-old has the best innings/100 ratio, surpassing some of the modern-day greats. The closest to him is Pakistan’s Babar Azam.

5 Five times in his career, Virat Kohli has scored five ODI tons or more — 2012, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2023.

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