Virat Kohli equals Sachin Tendulkar’s record, smashes 20th ODI hundred in India | Cricket News

NEW DELHI: Former India skipper Virat Kohli became the batter with joint most ODI centuries in a country when he scored a hundred against Sri Lanka in the first ODI of the three-match series in Guwahati on Tuesday. It was Kohli’s 20th ODI hundred in India, equalling the record held by batting great Sachin Tendulkar.
Kohli scored 113 off 87 balls in the first match of the new year, his 45th overall in one-dayers. The century took his overall international tally to 73, second only to Tendulkar’s 100 hundreds.

Kohli took only 99 innings to score his 20 ODI hundreds on home soil, while Sachin did so in 160 innings.
South Africa’s Hashim Amla (14 centuries in South Africa in 69 innings) and Ricky Ponting (14 centuries in Australia in 151 innings) are next in the list of most ODI hundreds in a country.
In the second ball of the 47th over bowled by pacer Kasun Rajitha, Kohli took a single to bring up his back-to-back hundreds in ODIs. He had scored a century against Bangladesh last month at Chattogram.

Kohli raced to his century on Tuesday, taking just 80 balls to reach the landmark with the help of 10 fours and a six. He was eventually dismissed by Rajitha for 113, off 87 balls, in the penultimate over of the India innings.
During the knock, Kohli also surpassed Tendulkar’s record of most ODI hundreds against Sri Lanka. He now has nine centuries against the Lankans, as compared to eight by Tendulkar. Virat also has nine ODI tons against the West Indies and eight against Australia.

Among the active players, Virat continues to be the ‘Century King’, with a total of 73 hundreds. Other players that follow him in the list are David Warner (Australia) – 45, Joe Root (England) – 44, Steve Smith (Australia) 42 and Rohit Sharma (India) 41.
(With inputs from agencies)