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Journalism of Courage
Virat Kohli, the talisman of the Indian cricket team, recently smashed his 50th century in ODIs and broke the long-held record of the legendary Sachin Tendulkar. The record-breaking feat came in the semifinal of the ongoing ICC World Cup where Kohli scored 117 runs against New Zealand at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium.
While many people considered Kohli as the heir apparent to Tendulkar ever since he was a part of the 2011 World Cup winning team, a fan had predicted in 2012 that Kohli will eventually break the ODI century record of Tendulkar.
Shiju Balanandan had posted on Facebook on July 22, 2012, that Virat Kohli will break Sachin’s record in ODI hundreds. At the time, Kohli had just smashed his 12th ODI hundred against Sri Lanka.
Joy Bhattacharjya, a quizzer and sports producer, took to X, formerly Twitter, to share Balanandan’s story. He said the fan kept on updating till Kohli’s 33rd century. Kohli had scored his 33rd hundred against South Africa on February 1, 2018. Sadly, Balanandan passed away around that time but his friends kept on updating Kohli’s centuries and eventually their friend’s prediction came true.
Kohli had a three-year century drought in international cricket that he broke in September 2022 with his maiden ton in the T20 format against Afghanistan.
Incidentally, Kohli scored the 50th ODI ton on the exact date and the exact venue where Tendulkar played his last international innings on November 15, 2013.
India would face Australia in the final on Sunday, a repeat of the 2003 World Cup final.
