India versus New Zealand | Virat Kohli: ‘It feels like a dream, too good to be true’ | Cricket-world-cup News

There was the leap, the roar and the emotion-draining sinking to his knees before Virat Kohli made the gesture that brought the biggest roar from the packed stands: he raised his hands, and bowed to Sachin Tendulkar, who clapped from the stands.He then blew a kiss to his wife, and had regained his control then, enough to even wink at someone on the field. The 50th ODI hundred shone with Kohli’s impeccable sense of timing: at Tendulkar’s home ground, under the master’s gaze, from flesh-and-blood as well as the statue, in a World Cup semifinal with his family and the cricketing world, including Viv Richards, watching.
Befittingly, the hundred came up with a shot that had disappeared for a while — the signature swat-flick, one of the great shots of modern-day cricket. A short while later, Kane Williamson came and enveloped Kohli with a big hug that said much about their relationship.

“The great man (Tendulkar) just congratulated me. It feels like a dream. Too good to be true. Sachin paaji was there in the stands. It’s very difficult for me to express it. My life partner, my hero — he’s sitting there. And all these fans at the Wankhede,” Kohli said after the ton.
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Overtaking Tendulkar and getting to ODI hundred No. 50 is akin to climbing the Everest, but what’s really astonishing about Kohli’s feat is this: he isn’t a genius like Tendulkar was, he isn’t as technically sound as Rahul Dravid, he isn’t as explosive as M S Dhoni, he doesn’t possess the audacious arsenal of Rohit Sharma. But Kohli, the ODI batsman, is the amalgamation of them all. Unsurprisingly, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 – Semi-Final – India v New Zealand – Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, India – November 15, 2023 India’s Virat Kohli celebrates after reaching his 50th century, breaking Sachin Tendulkar’s record of most number of ODI centuries. (REUTERS)
It was Tendulkar who set the template for ODI batting. But there have been many times when he hasn’t managed to do what Kohli does these days — finish a game. At times, the man who bore one of the harshest match pressures on his shoulders did wilt.

Some criticised him then, but it doesn’t take in the ecosystem of Indian cricket, and its hory. Without Tendulkar, there wouldn’t be Kohli. It’s an organic evolution. Without Kohli to follow up, Tendulkar’s lineage wouldn’t be complete. It was Tendulkar who kickstarted the ODI batting revolution in the truest sense. Post that, Kohli has overseen the evolution.
It was the occasion for even Tendulkar to feel nostalgic.
“The first time I met you in the Indian dressing room, you were pranked other teammates into touching my feet. I couldn’t stop laughing that day. But soon, you touched my heart with your passion and skill. I am so happy that that young boy has grown into a ‘Virat’ player,” he said.
“I couldn’t be happier that an Indian broke my record. And to do it on the biggest stage — in the World Cup semifinal — and at my home ground is the icing on the cake,” he said.
Kohli’s game sense has been impeccable, in this semifinal as well. Williamson was shuffling his bowlers in mini-spells and whenever he got the big guns on, Kohli would pounce early to set the tone.
In the 29th over, when Trent Boult came back to bowl, Kohli ran down the track to smash him for a boundary and bring up the 200 for the team. In the 30th over, when Tim Southee was brought on, Kohli came on strike for the second ball of the over, and yet again, went down the track, waiting to drag-flick the slower one into the wide long-on stands. Boult and Southee were the big challenges, and Kohli took it upon himself to puncture them.
There is another late Tendulkar trait that is now creeping into Kohli, especially seen in this World Cup. There is an apparent sense of ease and a sense of inevitability to most of his knocks. Right through this tournament, Kohli has been at his least intense while batting. He is often seen chatting with the wicketkeepers, talking with the umpires and laughing with his partners. He even intercepts throws and relays the ball to the bowlers at the non-striker’s end.
There’s also a sense of familiarity in the batting. Tendulkar had taken risk out of the capricious art of batting — his knocks in his latter years seemed like reruns of favourite shows. One could detect the shots that would come out — the paddle-sweep to spinners, the whisks to square-leg to rotate strike, the hit through or over extra-cover and the general arc he would score in.
Same with Kohli, though it must be said that this tournament has seen a T20 influence on him. He has been more positive, attacking early on in his knocks, seemingly preferring hard hits over hard running. But he would settle down after a start, and get into his Kohli mode of accumulation.Most Read
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Kohli, the chase-master, hasn’t disappeared. Dhoni showed how one can inexorably stretch a chase to its limit, almost threatening to snap its elasticity. He would wait for the opposition to make errors, cueing the final assault. Kohli does “match banake, phir jeetana (make the match, then win it)” like nobody else. His approach is more scientific and less stressful for fans.
Famous milestones in Indian cricket tend to come with a bit of huff and puff. Kapil Dev’s slow trudge to break Richard Hadlee’s wicket tally; Tendulkar’s slog uphill towards 100th international hundred; even Sunil Gavaskar had to wait a bit for his 10,000th run. Not Kohli, though, in his final stretch towards equalling Tendulkar’s 49 ODI hundreds and going beyond it, now.
Kapil Dev’s 1983 team introduced joy for this format to a nation, Gavaskar’s 1985 team in Australia triggered respect, Tendulkar had the nation hanging on to his knocks with an underlying feeling of what-if-he-gets-out dread. Kohli erased that fear, put the fans at ease, and will go down as The Big Boss of ODIs.