India’s star batter Virat Kohli on Sunday (November 5) slammed his 49th ODI hundred to equal the legendary Sachin Tendulkar’s world record.

Kohli completed the feat in his team’s ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 match against South Africa at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

Virat, who turned 35 today, took 277 innings to hit 49th century as compared to 452 innings of Tendulkar.

For his record-equalling century, Virat Kohli received congratulatory messages from the cricketing world. However, Sri Lanka cricketer Kusal Mendis refrained from congratulating the Indian legend.

Mendis was addressing a press conference on the eve of his team’s World Cup match against Sri Lanka in Delhi.

During the presser, a journalist asked: “Virat Just scored his 49th ODI ton. Do you like to congratulate him?"

In reply, Kusal Mendis said, “Why I would congratulate him” with a slight laughter on his face.

Here’s the video:

Virat Kohli scored 101 not out off 121 balls against Sri Lanka, helping India post a massive total of 326/5 on the board on a tricky pitch. His knock was studded with 10 boundaries.

Kohli has a total of 13,626 ODI runs to his name at an average of 58.48 from 289 ODIs. He is still trailing behind Tendulkar, who had scored 18,426 runs from 463 ODIs.