If Virat Kohli plays as long as Sachin Tendulkar, he will score nearly 80 ODI tons for India

Sudhir Gupta 20:09 07/02/2018
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  • Kohli hit his 34th ODI century on Wednesday.

    Virat Kohli’s numbers in ODI cricket are staggering. There is no other way to put it. His unbeaten knock of 160 against South Africa in the third ODI in Cape Town was his 34th century in his 205th ODI, which is simply an unbelievable statistic.

    Sachin Tendulkar is by far the most prolific batsman in ODI cricket with 49 centuries and 18,426 runs from 463 matches. That’s over 4,000 runs more than the next best (Kumar Sangakkara 14,234 runs) and 15 centuries more than the next man on the list – Kohli on 34. However, the rate at which the current Indian captain is churning out runs has put Kohli on track to leave the Mumbai master well behind when it comes to scoring centuries.

    After 205 ODIs, Tendulkar had 7,593 runs at an average of 42.4. Kohli has 9,348 at an average of 57.3 at the same stage of his career. Kohli’s current rate of a century every 6.02 matches means if he ends up playing 463 ODIs and keeps up his scoring rate, he will end up with 77 centuries.

    If you thought Sachin’s record of 49 ODI tons is amazing, just wait until Kohli is finished with his 50-over career.

    Given Kohli’s fitness and age (29), it is safe to assume he will be good enough to play for at least six to seven more years. He made his debut in 2008 and has played 205 ODIs so far. And if he somehow plays around 260 more games, Kohli will not only shatter Tendulkar’s century record and reach a level that will most likely be beyond any other cricketer, he will also overtake the Little Master’s tally of 18,426 runs. Kohli is halfway there and looks good to break every record in the book.

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