Virat Kohli broke two of Sachin Tendulkar’s records as India dominated Australia in their ODI World Cup opener at Chepauk. In 1983, Kapil Dev played a memorable innings to save India from a difficult situation against Zimbabwe.
This was a remarkable World Cup moment when the openers Sunil Gavaskar and Kris Srikkanth were out for zero runs, and India was struggling at a score of 17.
Fast forward 40 years, in the 2023 World Cup, Team India, led by Virat Kohli, faced a similar batting collapse. The openers Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan, much like Gavaskar and Srikkanth, failed to score any runs against Australia.
In a situation similar to the 1983 World Cup, where India faced a potential collapse, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli came together to rescue the Indian innings in front of a packed Chepauk stadium.
Although they fell short of centuries, these top-order batsmen made substantial contributions to lead India to a convincing victory. Rahul remained unbeaten on 97 runs, while Kohli scored 85 from 116 balls.
During this match, Kohli achieved several remarkable records, surpassing Sachin Tendulkar and Anil Kumble. The 34-year-old’s performance at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai was a record-breaking spectacle for the Indian team.
Kohli took his 15th catch in the World Cup, surpassing Kumble’s record, making him the Indian player with the most catches in ODI World Cup history.
Despite a shaky start with Rohit Sharma and others dismissed early, Kohli, known as the ‘chasemaster,’ played a pivotal role in altering the course of the match against the five-time world champions.
Kohli achieved his highest score in a successful World Cup run chase
Mitchell Marsh’s drop of Kohli at 12 allowed Kohli to capitalize on the situation and score a remarkable innings. Kohli made the Aussies pay for their costly error, guiding India out of a challenging situation.
In his brilliant performance, the former Indian captain struck 6 boundaries. Notably, this marked Kohli’s first instance of scoring over 50 runs in a successful World Cup run chase.
Kohli broke two of Tendulkar’s records
Breaking a world record in the 2023 World Cup, Kohli now holds the record for the most runs in successful ODI chases, surpassing Tendulkar. In terms of successful chases, Kohli has scored 5,517 runs in 92 innings, while Tendulkar managed 5,490 runs in 124 innings.
Kohli has also overtaken Tendulkar by setting a new record for the most runs by an Indian in white-ball ICC tournaments. Tendulkar scored 2,719 runs in 61 games, whereas Kohli has now crossed 2,780 runs. Kohli is the fastest batter to reach 13,000 ODI runs, is just two centuries away from equalling Tendulkar’s record of ODI hundreds.
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