Indian cricket team star Virat Kohli had a historic performance in the Cricket World Cup 2023 match against Bangladesh in Pune on Thursday. Virat smashed his match-winning century, ranking 48th in ODIs and 78th at international level. He scored 103 runs in 97 balls with six fours and four sixes. His runs came at a strike rate of over 106. This puts him one away from equaling Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 49 ODI centuries. Moreover, with his 78th international century, there are only 23 centuries left to surpass Sachin’s record of 100 international centuries. Virat also brought up his 26,000 international runs to become the fastest in just 567 innings, leaving Sachin (600 innings) behind.
In 511 matches and 567 innings, Virat has scored 26,026 runs at an average of 53.99 and a strike rate of over 79. He has scored 78 centuries and 134 fifties, with the best score of 254*.
With this, he also overtook Sri Lankan great Mahela Jayawardene (25,957 runs) to become the fourth all-time leading run-scorer in international cricket.
In 30 ICC Cricket World Cup matches, Virat has scored 1,289 runs at an average of 53.70, with three centuries and eight fifties in 30 innings, with the best score of 107. He is the fourth highest run-scorer in the history of the World Cup , with Sachin (2,278 runs) at the top.
In this World Cup, Virat is the second highest run-scorer. In four innings he scored 259 runs at an average of 129.50, with one century and two fifties, his best score is 103*. His success rate is around 90.
The match saw Bangladesh opt to bat first and featured an opening stand of 91 runs between Tanzid Hasan (51 in 43 balls with four boundaries and three sixes) and Litton Das (66 in 82 balls, with seven fours).
Thereafter, Bangladesh continued to lose wickets at regular intervals, although important knocks came from Mahmudullah (46 in 36 balls, with three fours and three sixes) and wicketkeeper-batsman Mushfiqur Rahim (38 in 46 balls, with a four and six). Bangladesh to 256/8 in 50 overs.
Ravindra Jadeja (2/38) and Jasprit Bumrah (2/41) were the pick of the bowlers for India. Mohammed Siraj also picked up two wickets while Kuldeep Yadav and Shardul Thakur got one each.
Chasing 257, skipper Rohit Sharma (48 in 40 balls, with seven fours and two sixes) and Shubman Gill (53 in 55 balls with five fours and two sixes) decided the outcome with their partnership itself. Virat’s century and the partnership with KL Rahul (34*), which saw some entertaining matches between the wickets, were the icing on the cake.
Mehidy Hasan Miraz took two wickets for Bangladesh.
With four wins in four matches, India is in second place in the points table with eight points. New Zealand is at the top with a better net run rate. Bangladesh is at the seventh spot with one win and three losses.
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