Virat Kohli broke his “hero” Sachin Tendulkar’s record of most One-Day International hundreds during India’s ICC Men’s ODI World Cup semi-final fixture against New Zealand at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Wednesday.

Scoring an unbeaten 100 off 106 balls on Wednesday, Kohli now has 80 international centuries across formats. Here too, he only trails Tendulkar’s record 100 hundreds across formats by 20.

It has taken Kohli 279 innings to score 50 hundreds while Tendulkar had taken 452 innings to amass 49 hundreds.

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Kohli had equalled Tendulkar’s record of 49 ODI tons during India’s 243-run rout of fellow World Cup semi-finalists South Africa on Sunday. On the occasion of his 35th birthday, he made a superbly paced unbeaten 101 on a tricky pitch at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens.

Also read: ICC Men’s ODI World Cup: Birthday boy Virat Kohli turns a century older at Eden Gardens

Interestingly, the top three batters to score the most hundreds in ODIs are all Indians. After Kohli and Tendulkar, Indian captain Rohit Sharma follows with 31 centuries in 251 innings.

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Ricky Ponting (30) and David Warner (22) are the two Australians in the top 10 while Sanath Jayasuriya (28) and Kumar Sangakkara (25) are the two batters from Sri Lanka. Hashim Amla (27) and AB de Villiers (25) are the only batters from South Africa. Chris Gayle also features in the list with 25 centuries.

Warner is the only active player in the list after Kohli and Sharma.

Here’s a look at the record for most ODI hundreds for batters:

Most ODI hundreds

Player Mat Inns NO Runs HS Ave BF SR 100 50 0
V Kohli (IND) 291 279 44 13794 183 58.69 14734 93.62 50 71 16
SR Tendulkar (IND) 463 452 41 18426 200* 44.83 21368 86.23 49 96 20
RG Sharma (IND) 261* 253 36 10662 264 49.13 11613 91.81 31 55 16
RT Ponting (AUS/ICC) 375 365 39 13704 164 42.03 17046 80.39 30 82 20
ST Jayasuriya (Asia/SL) 445 433 18 13430 189 32.36 14725 91.20 28 68 34
HM Amla (SA) 181 178 14 8113 159 49.46 9178 88.39 27 39 4
AB de Villiers (Afr/SA) 228 218 39 9577 176 53.50 9473 101.09 25 53 7
CH Gayle (ICC/WI) 301 294 17 10480 215 37.83 12019 87.19 25 54 25
KC Sangakkara (Asia/ICC/SL) 404 380 41 14234 169 41.98 18048 78.86 25 93 15
DA Warner (AUS) 159 157 6 6896 179 45.66 7106 97.04 22 33 4
via ESPN Cricinfo

After Kohli had equalled Tendulkar’s record, the Indian great wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: “Well played Virat. It took me 365 days to go from 49 to 50 (years old) earlier this year. I hope you go from 49 to 50 and break my record in the next few days. Congratulations.”

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Kohli responded to that during the post-match presentation saying, “His tweet is quite special. It’s all too much to take in for now. It’s a huge honour to equal my hero’s record. He’s perfection with the bat. It’s an emotional moment. I know the days I come from, I know the days I have watched him on TV.

Also read: Cricket: Virat Kohli matches Sachin Tendulkar’s 49 ODI tons – ‘To equal my hero’s record is special’

Kohli’s ODI tons vs opposition

Opposition No of centuries
Sri Lanka 10
West Indies 9
Australia 8
South Africa 5
New Zealand 6
Bangladesh 5
England 3
Pakistan 3
Zimbabwe 1
via ESPN Cricinfo

Number of ODI centuries in each country

Country No of centuries scored
India 24
Bangladesh 6*
Australia 5*
Sri Lanka 5*
West Indies 4
South Africa 3
England 1
Zimbabwe 1
New Zealand 1
*Most by a foreign batter via ESPN Cricinfo

Almost half of Kohli’s centuries have come while playing in India. His 24 centuries are the most any batter has scored in India ahead of Tendulkar’s 20 and Rohit Sharma’s 13.

With six centuries in Bangladesh and five centuries in Australia, Kohli also holds the record for most 100+ scores in those countries by a foreign batter. Kohli and Tendulkar also hold the record for most centuries by a foreign batter in Sri Lanka, with five apiece.

Most ODI centuries batting first

Player No of centuries
Sachin Tendulkar 32
Virat Kohli 23
Ricky Ponting 22
Hashim Amla 21
AB de Villiers 18
Sanath Jayasuriya 18
Kumar Sangakkara 18
via ESPN Cricinfo

Most ODI centuries batting second

Player No of centuries
Virat Kohli 27
Sachin Tendulkar 17
Rohit Sharma 15
Chris Gayle 12
Tillakaratne Dilshan 11
via ESPN Cricinfo

Most ODI centuries as captain

Player Country No of centuries
Ricky Ponting Australia 22
Virat Kohli India 21
AB de Villiers South Africa 13
Sourav Ganguly India 11
Sanath Jayasuriya Sri Lanka 10
via ESPN Cricinfo