Virat Kohli on Sunday fell just 7 runs short of his 54th ODI century but his 93 ensured that India went over the line and won by 4 wickets in the 1st ODI against New Zealand in Vadodara on Sunday. Kohli who was adjudged the player of the match opened up about missing the ton, saying that he did not really think about milestones and played to just get India over the finish line. He also talked about the crowd reception towards the batter who gets out before Kohli makes his way down to bat. For the uninitiated, the crowd more often than not cheers the dismissal of the batter whose wicket would bring Kohli to the crease. On Sunday though, it seemed like Kohli waited for Rohit to get back to the pavilion before making his own entry to cheers. Asked about that, Kohli said that he doesn’t feel good about it at all. “I honestly don’t feel good about it, I’ve seen it with MS (Dhoni) too. I understand the crowd get excited. I just try to keep the focus on the game,” Kohli said. Talking about his innings and missing his century, he reiterated that individual milestones don’t matter to him. Also Read | Virat Kohli misses ton but joins forces with Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer to guide India to victory over New Zealand “If I am being brutally honest then I am not thinking about the milestones, I would have gone hard if we were batting first, the experience does matter. The only thing was to get the team into a good position in the chase. The basic idea is I bat at number 3, I back myself to counterattack, I just walked in and felt I could put the opposition on the back foot,” he said. Earlier, Kohli also became the fastest player to reach 28,000 runs across formats in international cricket and the second most prolific scorer behind Sachin Tendulkar during the first ODI against New Zealand here. Playing in his 624th innings, Kohli got to the milestone by hitting a four off New Zealand leg-spinner Adithya Ashok. Tendulkar had reached the landmark during his 644th innings, while Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara, only the third player in the 28000-run club, crossed the feat in his 666th innings.Story continues below this ad The 37-year-old Kohli had come into the match with 27975 runs across formats in international cricket. Tendulkar scored 34357 runs from 782 innings, while Sangakkara made 28016 runs from 666 innings. In February 2023, Kohli had become the fastest batter to reach 25,000 runs, achieving the mark in 549 innings, 28 innings quicker than Tendulkar. In October 2023, Kohli went past 26,000 runs as the quickest to the landmark. A year later, in September 2024, he reached 27,000 runs in his 594th innings.
‘I honestly don’t feel good about it’: Virat Kohli on cheers from crowd when batter ahead of him gets dismissed
