Sports

By winning ‘Player of the Match’ for the 71st time, Virat Kohli took a step towards Sachin’s record.

By Samira Vishwas

New Delhi. Against New Zealand, Virat Kohli played a match-winning inning of 93 runs. King Kohli was awarded the Player of the Match award for his significant contribution in India’s victory. With this, Kohli has come closer to Sachin Tendulkar’s world record.

Virat Kohli was the hero of India’s victory in the first ODI against New Zealand. Kohli may have missed a century while chasing the target of 301 runs, but he played a brilliant inning of 93 runs and played an important role in India’s victory. Chase master Virat Kohli played a total of 91 balls in this innings in which he hit 8 fours and 1 six. During the run chase, he made a century partnership with captain Shubman Gill for the second wicket, while adding 77 runs with Shreyas Iyer for the third wicket. Virat Kohli was awarded the Player of the Match award for his excellent performance.

This was the 45th player of the match award in Virat Kohli’s ODI career and the 71st player of the match in international cricket. By winning this award, King Kohli has started taking steps towards another world record of Sachin Tendulkar.

    • This is the record of winning the Player of the Match award the most number of times in international cricket. Kohli has played an important role in the team’s victory 71 times in Test, ODI and T20. Kohli has won the Player of the Match award 45 times in ODIs, 16 times in T20s and 10 times in Tests. Now the distance between Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli is very less.

    Sachin Tendulkar, known as the ‘God of Cricket’, holds the world record for winning the maximum number of 76 Player of the Match awards in international cricket. The Master Blaster has achieved this feat 62 times in ODIs and 14 times in Tests. Now there is a difference of only 5 steps left between Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli.

    Players who have won the most ‘Player of the Match’ awards in international cricket-
    76 – Sachin Tendulkar (ODI – 62, Test – 14)

    71 – Virat Kohli (ODI – 45*, T20I – 16, Test – 10)

    58 – Sanath Jayasuriya (ODI – 48, T20I – 6, Test – 4)

    57 – Jacques Kallis (ODI – 32, Test – 23, T20I – 2)

    50 – Kumar Sangakkara (ODI – 31, Test – 16, T20I – 3)

    49 – Ricky Ponting (ODI – 32, Test – 16, T20I – 1)

    45 – Rohit Sharma (ODI – 27, T20I – 14, Test – 4)

    45 – Shakib Al Hasan (ODI – 27, T20I – 12, Test – 6)

    If we talk about ODI cricket only, Virat Kohli is at third place in terms of winning the most number of Player of the Match awards in ODI. This was Kohli’s 45th player of the match award in the 50 over format. Above him are former explosive Sri Lankan batsmen Sanath Jayasuriya and Sachin Tendulkar.

    Players who have won the most Player of the Match awards in ODI
    62 – Sachin Tendulkar

    48 – Sanath Jayasuriya

    45 – Virat Kohli

    32 – Jacques Kallis

    32 – Ricky Ponting

    32 – Shahid Afridi

    When Virat Kohli was asked after the match how many Player of the Match awards he has, he gave such an answer which won everyone’s heart. “To be honest, I have no idea. I just send the trophies back home to my mom in Gurgaon – she loves keeping them,” Kohli said after the match.

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