IND vs SA: Sachin Tendulkar wins heart with congratulatory message to Virat Kohli for equalling his record

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IND vs SA: Sachin Tendulkar won hearts with his congratulatory message for Virat Kohli who equalled his record for most ODI hundreds on Sunday. Batting against South Africa in match number 37 of the World Cup 2023 at the Eden Garden in Kolkata, Kohli brought up his 49th ODI hundred to go at par with his childhood idol.

Hinting towards his age, Sachin Tendulkar said he took 365 days to turn 50 from 49 years of age, earlier this year in April. Tendulkar added that he wishes Kohli goes from 49 (hundreds) to 50 (hundreds) in the next few days.

India will face Netherlands in their last league match at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru before meeting their semi-final opponents on November 15. The final of the World Cup 2023 is scheduled to be played on November 19. India would want Kohli to keep smashing hundreds and help India win their third World cup.

"Well played Virat. It took me 365 days to go from 49 to 50 earlier this year. I hope you go from 49 to 50 and break my record in the next few days. Congratulations!!" Sachin Tendulkar wrote on X.

Virat Kohli scored 101 unbeaten runs off 121 balls on a difficult batting surface against South Africa as India ended their innings at 326/5 in 50 overs.

Kohli is only the third India batter after Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli to score a hundred on his birthday. He also became only the second India batter to complete 6000 ODI runs in India.

The innings also helped Virat Kohli jump to second spot in the list of batters with most runs in the ongoing World Cup 2023. He has scored 543 runs in eight matches at an average of 108.60. Quinton de Kock (550), who was leading Kohli by just two runs, was clean bowled by Mohammed Siraj for five runs in the match.