Once again, Virat Kohli failed to record a magical '49' after having scored a breezy half-century on previous day. The former captain of India crossed the fifty-plus mark in World Cup 2023 for the fourth time, but he was unable to reach the triple-figure score. Kohli had the big opportunity to match his idol Sachin Tendulkar's record at his own den on Thursday in front of a packed Wankhede crowd in Mumbai, where he had lifted India's second World Cup trophy 12 years earlier. However, a slower one from Dilshan Madushanka eventually undid him, leaving him 12 runs short of one of the most anticipated feats in world cricket.
Despite his missed opportunity to break one of the batting legend's most elusive records, Kohli did manage to smash a long-standing ODI record en way to his 88 off 94 against Sri Lanka in India's seventh World Cup 2023 match.
Kohli became the third Indian batsman in the calendar year to reach 1000 runs in 2023, after Rohit Sharma (1060 runs) and Shubman Gill (1426 runs), just before he scored his 70th fifty in an ODI. Kohli broke Sachin's record of seven such scores, the last of which occurred in 2007, by scoring 1000 or more runs in a single calendar year for the eighth time in his illustrious career: 2011 (1381 runs), 2012 (1026 runs), 2013 (1268 runs), 2014 (1054 runs), 2017 (1460 runs), 2018 (1202 runs), 2019 (1377 runs), and 2023.
When Kohli reached 50, he also overtook India skipper Rohit to reclaim the second position in terms of most World Cup innings of fifty or more. With 13 goals in 44 innings, Kohli is only surpassed by Sachin, who has 21 more.
Alongside Shubman Gill, who was on 92, Kohli, who had been dismissed for a duck in the previous World Cup match, seemed to be in superb form on Thursday as he raced towards that historic century. But India's 189-run partnership for the second wicket came to an end when Dilshan Madushanka, who had previously removed Rohit in the first over, struck twice in two overs to remove both Gill and Kohli.
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