A big, big congratulations to Virat, he made it look easy, he's gone to 50 hundreds in ODI format. Incredible, super, we are all super proud of him. I still remember the first day when he got into the Indian dressing room. The other players played prank on him and made him touch my feet saying that this is tradition, you have to touch his feet to take his blessings, that's when you are going to have a good career. I was laughing away. Today to see the same player grow so beautifully and achieve so many laurels for our country, I am so proud.
I said in Kolkata, the great man (Sachin Tendulkar) just congratulated me. All this feels like a dream, too good to be true. Feels surreal for me. Again a big game today, I had to play the role I have played throughout the tournament so that the guys around me can go and express themselves. Just glad everything came together so nicely and we put up a great total on the board as well. (On how he gets the consistency going) Most important thing is to make my team win and whatever it takes to do that I am ready to do that. Whether running singles and doubles, hitting boundaries... whatever the team wants me to do. I have been given a role this tournament and I have been trying to play that to the best of my abilities - try to dig deep and bat long so the guys around me can play around me and have that confidence in the later overs where I can dominate with the bat as well.
(On his celebration after reaching the hundred) As I said stuff of dreams. Anushka was sitting right there, Sachin paaji was here too. Difficult to explain this. If I could paint a perfect picture I would want this to be the picture. My life partner, the person I love the most is sitting there, my hero is sitting there and I was able to get the 50th (ODI hundred) in front of all of them and all these stands in Wankhede as well, such a history venue so it was amazing. (Assessing the team's innings) In a big game you are happy with anything over 330-340. To get close to 400 is amazing. Lot of credit has to go to Shreyas the way he came and batted freely.. Shubman and Rohit at the top, KL finishing with the flurry... I think everyone did their roles to perfection and did the job beautifully for the team. A perfect batting performance but just one half of the game is done. Still got to go out there and be professional with the ball and do the things we have done in the tournament so far.
STAT ATTACK - India batters with consecutive World Cup hundreds
3 - Rohit Sharma (2019)
2 - Rahul Dravid (1999)
2* - Shreyas Iyer (2023)
STAT ATTACK - Most hundreds in World Cups
7 - Rohit Sharma
6 - Sachin Tendulkar
6 - David Warner
5 - Ricky Ponting
5 - Kumar Sangakkara
5 - Virat Kohli
Most ODI hundreds:
50 - Virat Kohli
49 - Sachin Tendulkar
31 - Rohit Sharma
30 - Ricky Ponting
28 - Sanath Jayasuriya