Watch: Kusal Mendis Refuses to 'Congratulate' Virat Kohli on 49th ODI Ton, Says 'Why Would I...'

Former Indian skipper Virat Kohli scored his 49th ODI century on Sunday, however, Sri Lanka’s stand-in captain Kusal Mendis refused to ‘congratulate’ the 35-year-old on his achievement. Quizzed in his pre-match presser about the prospect of congratulating Kohli, Mendis came up with a rather bizarre remark.

Rohit Sharma-led Indian team were in red-hot form as they crushed South Africa by 234 runs at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Riding on Kohli’s century and Shreyas Iyer’s 77-run inning, India recorded a massive total of 326/5 batting first, and they were able to restrict South Africa to a paltry 83 runs in reply.

Ravindra Jadeja picked up a five-wicket haul as the Indian bowling attack kept the likes of Quinton de Kock and others at bay.

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India sit pretty atop the ODI World Cup 2023 points table while Sri Lanka are on the cusp of crashing out of the race for the semifinals. The Lankan Lions’ crushing 302-run defeat at the hands of Men in Blue meant that they only have an outside chance of reaching the top four while the Champions Trophy 2025 qualification is the only realistic target.

Speaking on the eve of the fixture against Bangladesh in Delhi, Mendis looked stunned and let out a laugh when quizzed by a reporter whether he had any message for Kohli after the latter’s 49th ODI century.

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“Why I would congratulate him?” replied Mendis.

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Meanwhile, Virat silenced all the talk regarding comparison with his ‘hero’ Sachin Tendulkar despite equalling the legend’s ODI record for most centuries. Kohli insisted that he will never be as good as the Master Blaster was.

“It is quite special to me. It is all too much to take in right now. To equal my hero’s record in ODIs is a huge honour for me. I know people like comparisons but I’m never going to be as good as him. There is a reason why everyone of us look up to him, he is a perfection when it comes to batting,” said Virat Kohli after picking up the Man of the Match award.