49th ODI century: It is something you dream about as a child, says Virat Kohli

The celebration was unusually reserved. When Virat Kohli drew level with his idol, Sachin Tendulkar, reaching his 49th One-Day International hundred in front of a packed Eden Gardens, there were no histrionics. There was no waving of the bat, no pumping of the fist, and not even a pressure release of expletives.

Instead, Kohli hugged his batting partner and then raised his bat to acknowledge the cheers of the audience in various different sections. Among all grounds in India, the Eden Gardens is one in which you can tell what the state of the game is just listening to the crowd.

Here, when Kohli got to the milestone, there was a release of energy. After Happy Birthday was sung and the applause subsided, there was almost a sense of relief. This was not so much euphoria as enjoying being part of a major milestone.

Kohli’s innings itself was not one of his most dazzling. On a sluggish pitch where the ball was not coming onto the bat as much as batsmen would have liked, Kohli had to put his head down and work hard. The trademark shots were all there: the cover drive, the punch back past the bowler and even the whip from outside off through midwicket. But, more than all of that, it was Kohli’s game sense that came to the fore.

Rohit Sharma had provided the impetus even if he did not last too long and Shreyas Iyer was comfortable going after the spinners. Kohli’s role was to bat deep, and there will be those who point to 101 off 121 balls to suggest that he was chasing a mile-stone rather than powering the innings. But, this was not a pitch in which to hit out, especially with India’s current long tail.

As India has done in the first seven matches of the World Cup, they found a way to get the job done. And Kohli’s gift to Kolkata was his 49th ODI hundred.