Last Update on: November 16th, 2023 at 01:12 pm
Former Indian skipper Sunil Gavaskar had an overflow of his emotions as he described Virat Kohli’s batting en route to his 50th ODI ton against New Zealand in the first semi-final at the Wankhede stadium on Wednesday.
Kohli reached a league of his own as he scored his 50th ODI ton and became the first batter in the history of the game to reach that landmark. In the process, he now has reached 711 runs in this World Cup scoring three hundreds. He also overtook Sachin Tendulkar’s tally of 673 runs in the 2003 World Cup and became the first batter to score over 700 runs in a single edition of the World Cup.
Kohli has broken several batting records in this World Cup and Sunil Gavaskar who is a batting icon himself has seen all of them unfold in this World Cup. His emotions were very much on view while he was praising Kohli’s batting display.
One of those moments was when he remembered how Kohli took apart Sri Lankan pacer Lasith Malinga in Hobart in 2012 when he scored 133 off just 86 balls. India had to chase Sri Lanka’s total of 320 in just 37 overs for a place in the final and Kohli’s heroics made it possible.
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Looking back to that knock, Gavaskar on his commentary stint for Star Sports Hindi became emotional while remembering that knock from the former Indian skipper. “Malinga ko jis tarah se unhone pela thaa,” said an emotional Gavaskar while describing Kohli’s innings.
Watch: Sunil Gasvakar Gets Emotional While Speaking About Virat Kohli’s Batting On Commentary
‘Malinga ko jis hisab se Kohli ne pela tha’
Even Legends cannot control their emotions 🔥😀 pic.twitter.com/Rz3DvfGXn3
— Rishi Bagree (@rishibagree) November 16, 2023
India scored 397/4 batting first with centuries from Kohli and Shreyas Iyer after Rohit Sharma gave the team a brilliant start. The match was too close for comfort when Daryl Mitchell (134) and Kane Williamson (69) had an 181-run stand for the third wicket.
Mohammed Shami then took two wickets in the 33rd over including that of Williamson and Toma Latham to break the game open for India. He ended with 7/57 to help his team with the match by 70 runs in the end to get a berth in the World Cup final after 12 years.
Australia and South Africa will play the second semi-final in Kolkata. The winner will take on India in the final on Sunday, November 19.
Also Read: “Never Thought Someone Would Go Past Sachin Tendulkar..”- Former English Captain Hails Virat Kohli
