Sawt Falasteen - 'Stuff of dreams', says Kohli after matching Tendulkar

On his 35th birthday, Kohli made an undefeated 101 as India reached 326-5 in their World Cup group game with South Africa at the country's iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

"Every opportunity to play for India is a big one and to do this on my birthday in front of a huge crowd is the stuff of dreams. It is something you dream about as a child," said Kohli.

"I am just happy to help the team as much as possible."

In all Kohli now has 49 ODI centuries, 29 hundreds in Test matches and one ton in Twenty20 internationals.

He has accumlated more than 26,000 runs in all three formats.

"Well played Virat," wrote Tendulkar on X, formerly Twitter, who celebrated his 50th birthday in April.

"It took me 365 days to go from 49 to 50 earlier this year. I hope you go from 49 to 50 and break my record in the next few days. Congratulations!"

Former rival, Pakistan's Shahid Afridi also hailed Kohli.

"This is the best birthday gift from Virat Kohli to the fans of team India & entire cricket fraternity," wrote Afridi on X.

Former West Indies fast bowler Ian Bishop, now a respected TV commentator, wrote on social media: "Legacy cemented: Century No 49 on his 35th birthday for Virat Kohli to draw level with the great Sachin Tendulkar. Two greats of the game."

M.AbuKhalil--SF-PST