15th November 2023 was a memorable day for all Indian cricket fans, as on this day India won the semi-final of the ODI World Cup against New Zealand, and Virat Kohli broke the record of 49 ODI centuries which was in the name of legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar. Virat scored his 50th ODI century on this day and thus created a new record, as Virat is still an active player, it is impossible to predict when he retires then how many ODI centuries will be in his name.
Overall Virat has scored 80 centuries (50 in ODIs+29 in Tests +1 in T20I) in a career spanning 15 years. In the overall centuries scored he stands behind Sachin Tendulkar who has scored 100 centuries (51 Tests+49 ODIs.
Virat made his debut in ODI against Sri Lanka in August 2008 and scored his first ODI century against the same team in 2009. Here are details of his 50 ODI centuries.
1 Against Sri Lanka at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, scored 107 runs @ strike rate (SR) of 93.85, on 24th December 2009. Match-won.
2 Against Bangladesh at Dhaka, scored 102 not out SR of 107.37, on 11th Jan 2010. Match-won.
3 Against Australia at Vizag, scored 118 @ SR of 97.52, on 20th Oct 2010. Match-won.
4 Against New Zealand at Guwahati, scored 105 @ SR of 100.96, on 28th Nov 2010. Match-won
5 Against Bangladesh at Dhaka, scored 100 no @ SR of 120.48, on 19 Feb 2011. Match-won.
6 Against England at Cardiff, scored 107 @ SR of 115.05, on 16 Sept 2011. Match-lost.
7 Against England at Delhi, scored 112 no@ SR of 114.28, on 17 Oct 2011. Match- won.
8 Against West Indies at Vizag, scored 117@ SR of 95.12, on 2nd Dec 2011. Match-won.
9 Against Sri Lanka at Hobart (SL), scored 133 no @ SR of 154.65, on 28th Feb 2012. Match- Won.
10 Against Sri Lanka at Dhaka, scored 108 @ SR of 90, on 13th Mar 2012. Match-won.
11 Against Pakistan at Dhaka, scored 183 @ SR of 123.64, on 18th Mar 2012. Match-won.
12 Against Sri Lanka at Hambantota (SL) scored 106 @ SR of 93.8, on 21st July 2012. Match-won.
13 Against Sri Lanka at Colombo, scored 128 no @ SR of 107.56, on 31st July 2012. Match-won.
14 Against West Indies at Port of Spain, scored 102 @ SR of 122.88, on 5th July 2013. Match-won.
15 Against Zimbabwe at Harare, scored 115 @ SR of 106.48, on 24th July 2013. Match- won.
16 Against Australia at Jaipur, scored 100 no @ SR of 192.30, on 16th Oct 2013. Match- won.
17 Against Australia at Nagpur, scored 115 no @ SR of 174.24, on 30th Oct 2013. Match-won.
18 Against New Zealand at Napier (NZ), scored 123 @ SR of 110.81, on 19th Jan 2014. Match- lost.
19 Against Bangladesh at Fatullah, scored 136 @ SR of 111.47, on 26th Feb 2014. Match-won.
20 Against West Indies at Dharamshala, scored 127 @ SR of 111.40, on 17th Oct 2014. Match- won.
21 Against Sri Lanka at Ranchi, scored 139 no @ SR of 110.31, on 16th Nov 2014. Match-won.
22 Against Pakistan at Adelaide (Aus), scored 107 @ SR of 84.90, on 15th Feb 2015. Match-won.
23 Against South Africa at Chennai, scored 138 @ SR of 98.57, on 22nd Oct 2015. Match-won.
24 Against Australia at Melbourne, scored 117 @ SR of 100, on 17th Jan 2016. Match-lost.
25 Against Australia at Canberra, scored 106 SR of 115.21, on 20th Jan 2016. Match-lost.
26 Against New Zealand at Mohali, scored 154 no @ SR of 114.92, on 23rd Oct 2016. Match-won
27 Against England at Pune, scored 122 @ SR of 116.19, on 15th Jan 2017. Match-won.
28 Against West Indies at Kingston, scored 111 no @ SR of 96.52, on 6th Jul 2017. Match- won
29 Against Sri Lanka at Colombo, scored 131 @ SR of 136.45, on 31st Aug 2017. Match- won.
30 Against Sri Lanka at Colombo, scored 110 @ Sr of 94.82, on 3rd Sep 2017. Match-won.
31 Against New Zealand at Mumbai, scored 121 @ SR of 96.80, on 22nd Oct 2017. Match-lost.
32 Against New Zealand at Kanpur, scored 113 @ SR of106.60, on 29th Oct 2017. Match-won.
33 Against South Africa at Durban, scored 112 @ SR 94.11, on 1st Feb 2018. Match-Won
34 Against South Africa at Cape Town, scored 160 no @ SR of 100.62, on 7th Feb 2018.
35 Against South Africa at Centurion (SA), scored 129 no @ SR of 134.37, on 16th Feb 2018. Match-won.
36 Against West Indies at Guwahati, scored 140 @ SR of 130.84, on 21st Oct 2018. Match- won.
37 Against West Indies at Vizag, scored 157 no @ SR of 121.71, on 24th Oct 2018. Match-tied.
38 Against West Indies at Pune, scored 107 @SR of 89.91, on 27th Oct 2018. Match- Lost.
39 Against Australia at Adelaide, scored 104 @ SR of 92.85, on 15th Jan 2019. Match-won.
40 Against Australia at Nagpur, scored 116 @ SR of 96.67, on 5th Mar 2019. Match-Won.
41 Against Australia at Ranchi, scored 123 @ SR of 129.47, on 8th Mar 2019. Match-lost.
42 Against West Indies at Port of Spain, scored 120 @ SR of 96, on 11th Aug 2019. Match-won.
43 Against West Indies at Port of Spain, scored 114 no @ SR of 115.15, on 14th Aug 2019. Match- won.
44 Against Bangladesh at Chittagong, scored 113@ SR of 124.17, on 10th Dec 2022. Match-won
45 Against Sri Lanka at Guwahati, scored 113 @ SR of 129.88, on 10th Jan 2023. Match-won
46 Against Sri Lanka at Thiruvanathapuram, scored 166 @ SR of 150.9, on 15th Jan 2023.
47 Against Pakistan at Colombo, scored 122 not out @ SR of 129.78, on 10th Sep 2023. Match-won
48 Against Bangladesh at Pune, scored 103 @ SR of 106.18, on 19th Oct 2023. Match-won
49 Against South Africa at Kolkata, scored 101 @ SR of 83.47, on 5th Nov 2023. Match-won.
50 Against New Zealand at Mumbai, scored 117 SR of 103.53, on 15th Nov 2023. Match-won.
Now if you compare Virat with Sachin in ODIs, Sachin played 463 ODIs for his 49 Centuries, while Virat scored his 50 Centuries in 291 ODIs. Virat also has a better SR of 93.54 as against 86.24 of Sachin.
Waiting for your views on this blog.
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
17th November 2023