WATCH: Eden Gardens Roars Loud to Welcome Virat Kohli to Bat on His 35th Birthday

Batting maestro Virat Kohli received a big reception from the fans at Eden Gardens when he entered the middle to bat against South Africa in the ODI World Cup match. Kohli turned 35 on Sunday and the fans came in massive numbers to wish the batting superstar in Kolkata.

The star batsman’s legion of fans will hope he can mark the occasion by equalling Sachin Tendulkar’s all-time one-day international record of 49 hundred after he just fell short with 88 against Sri Lanka.

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Kohli entered to bat in the sixth over after Kagiso Rabada got the better of India skipper Rohit Sharma on 40.

A video of Kohli entering the middle and fans giving him a rousing reception has gone viral on social media.

Meanwhile, Kohli was off the mark with a fine cover drive which ran away for a boundary. He continued his sublime form with the bat and registered his sixth 50-plus score in the ongoing edition of the World Cup. He took 68 balls to reach his half-century.

He has already scored 500-plus runs in the ongoing edition of the World Cup is one of the strong contenders of the golden bat.

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Earlier in the day, The International Cricket Council (ICC) posted a video on Instagram, featuring Shubman Gill, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravichandran Ashwin alongside head coach Rahul Dravid.

Head coach Dravid said that Kohli’s performances over the years have set a benchmark for his generation of cricketers. “Virat’s a legend of the game and especially this format [ODI]. All formats of the game, but particularly this one. The performances; the way he’s been able to finish games, the standard of his performances over the years has probably set a benchmark for his generation of cricketers,” Dravid said in the video.

“That fire and dedication towards the game after playing for so long has not fallen down. It only keeps on getting up. So that is something that I can also learn and everyone who watches the game, I am sure, learns a lot from,” said Bumrah.

“His hunger and his passion for the game are unparalleled. I have not seen anyone who is as hungry and as passionate as him,” Gill said in a video.

“He has got the fitness culture. He has got the bond. He’s always there in the game. And that is something I think which will inspire, obviously a lot of us, but at the same point of time, a lot of millions of fans as well,” Pandya added.

Veteran spinner Ashwin said: “He’s changed the DNA of thinking around Indian cricket. How one batsman needs to perceive it. How one batter needs to prepare for a game.”