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The ICC ODI World Cup 2023 is taking place in India, where cricket is considered a religion, and fans are engaging in huge numbers to watch the game at the stadium. Apart from them, many fans watch the sport online and history has been made during India's clash against New Zealand on Sunday when legendary Virat Kohli was batting on 95 runs last night.
Earlier, the FIFA World Cup 2022 final between Argentina and France in Qatar was watched by 4.1 crore online viewers and set the record for the most-watched online sports event in the world. The match was played between Lionel Messi-led Argentina and Kylian Mbappe's France was forced to penalties following a 3-3 draw after playing 120 minutes.
While Argentina won their third World Cup after beating France on penalties, Lionel Messi was celebrated across the world for his maiden World Cup title, which showed the anticipation of the whole world to see one of the greatest footballers of time lift the trophy in front of millions.
Although the stage wasn't that big, it was Indian superstar Virat Kohli on the crease, playing on 95 runs just five runs away from his second hundred in the ongoing tournament and equalling the 49 centuries in ODIs record of Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar. At that moment, the online viewership of the official streaming partner, Disney+Hotstar was 4.3 crore which was 20 lakh more than the Qatar World Cup final.
Following these two, Tou de France is the third-most watched online sports event in the world with 3.6 crore viewership while the 2019 Cricket World Cup Final is on the fourth spot with 3.4 crore viewership.
Talking about the India versus New Zealand CWC 2023 match, the pressure was high to score back-to-back centuries and Kohli went for a maximum, however, the connection between the bat and the ball wasn't that good and it landed straight in the fielder's hand. Despite missing on his 49th ODI century, fans lauded the stalwart's efforts as some called it a better inning than a centurion knock.
