India vs South Africa match in World Cup. Set a target of 326 runs, Team India changed the bowling order for the first time in the tournament. Ravindra Jadeja comes in to bowl before Mohammed Shami and Kuldeep Yadav… Temba Bavuma misses the ball on his leg stump… Jadeja, KL Rahul and Rohit appeal for lbw. The umpire sees the ball go outside the leg stump and declares it not out… DRS is taken on the demand of KL Rahul and Jadeja, then the umpire changes his decision and Bavuma is declared out… Rohit, Rahul, Jadeja. They celebrate by hugging. And celebrate with the other players… but the most enthusiastic of all is seen by the player standing behind them. He screams in his own style. He shakes hands twice on the ground in punch style and then joins the rest of the players in celebration. That is Virat Kohli. The same Virat who equaled the century of the ‘God of Cricket’ Sachin Tendulkar in this match. 49 equal to the century.
Virat Kohli, who came to the Indian team with cap number 175 in 2008 at the age of 21, played 175 innings less than Sachin to reach this figure of 49 centuries. The player who was hitting the ball all around while batting a few hours earlier and was celebrating more enthusiastically on the field than the bowler who later took the wicket, gets emotional after the match when Sachin’s name comes up.
When Virat Kohli came to play his first ODI match in the year 2008, neither he nor any cricket fan thought that this player would ever be able to break Sachin’s record. No one thought that cap number 175 would be compared to cap number 74… No one thought that jersey number 33, the milestone record of the man who made the number 10 jersey iconic through 99, would be matched by number 18. A man in jersey achieves it in fewer innings than that.
Virat, who came in 2008, scored his first century in 2009, while Sachin, who came in 1989, scored his first century in 1994. Sachin played 452 innings to reach 49 ODI centuries, but Virat played only 272 innings. After the match, Sachin said in a tweet, ‘It took me 365 days to reach 49 to 50. I am sure you will reach very soon.
The great cricketer would not have trusted Virat like this. He played with them from 2008 to 2012. On the field, amidst chants of Sachin, Sachin, he sees Virat hitting shots all around the field. A shot that would have made Sachin’s eyes light up, he saw Virat stand at the non-striker’s end and hit a similar shot. This confidence must have been born only after such a long journey. And while this faith can be pinned on Sachin, he is bound in the hearts of millions of cricket fans in the country.
Virat Kohli has been a part of the Indian cricket team for almost 16 years. He has made his place by playing with big stretcher batsmen like Sachin, Saurabh Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Laxman, Dhoni, Yuvraj, Sehwag, Rohit. Even at 35, he looks as cool as a 21-year-old. Equally fit, equally full of energy. There is the same hunger to score runs and the same smile on the face after winning the match.
This great player has drawn a long line with his batting, fitness and personality, which is an example not only for cricket but also for people in other fields. In batting, he has lived up to all the standards of cricket and his skills have reached a level that people would dream of reaching. Now that Virat himself is saying that we have no right not to compare him with his hero. But statistics only fill in the blanks. And, in statistics, Virat Kohli has made a big place in cricket history…
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Tags: Pal of pride, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, World Cup 2023
First published: November 6, 2023, 21:01 IST