Kohli marks 35th birthday with record-equalling 49th ODI century

KOLKATA :When India last hosted the World Cup in 2011, the only team to beat them was South Africa.

As it was, that three wicket group-stage win failed to stop MS Dhoni's men from lifting the World Cup on home soil and 12 years on, the 2023 edition of the Indian juggernaut seems to be unstoppable as they maintained their 100 per cent record at the tournament with a 243-run win over South Africa on Sunday.

Virat Kohli, the only survivor from that 2011 Nagpur line-up, was celebrating his 35th birthday on Sunday and even when a lone fan had the crowd chuckling as he started belting out an out-of-tune rendition of 'Happy Birthday' - the batsman turned a deaf ear to the commotion.

That laser focus sums up the way India has approached this World Cup as they remain the only unbeaten side among the 10 participating nations, having won all eight of their group matches.

A sea of blue-clad India fans kept filing into the 66,000-capacity ground for several hours before the 2pm local time start as excitement mounted for the top-of-the-table showdown that many believe will be a dress rehearsal for the Nov. 19 final.

With a place in the semi-finals already bagged by both teams before Sunday's contest, India put on a dazzling show with bat and ball to keep the home fans roaring at full throttle for hours and hours.

Leaving the likes of captain Rohit Sharma (40 off 24 balls) and Shreyas Iyer (77) to smash the crowd-pleasing sixes into the stands, Kohli never lost sight of the long game even as deafening chants of "Kohli-Kohli-Kohli" kept reverberating around the cavernous Eden Gardens ground.

The 25th meeting between the two teams since India last hosted tournament showed just how far Kohli has come since his contribution in that 2011