There was a time when they said no one would be able to beat all the records that Sunil Gavaskar had created. Then a 16 year old kid called Sachin Tendulkar burst on the screen, broke all those records and created a pile of some seemingly unbreakable records himself. And then came Virat Kohli who made us question whether some of Tendulkar’s records may also be overtaken. Recent batting feints seem to suggest as much and some are predicting 78 to 80 centuries for ‘King Kohli’.
Suresh Raina held the record for the most T20 runs by an Indian. However that record has been overtaken by Virat Kohli.
In the ODI against the West Indies, he hit his 42nd ODI century. This also earned him the man of the match award. Speaking from the point of view of records, this brings Kohli that much closer to Tendulkar’s record of 49 ODI centuries (Tendulkar famously has 100 centuries including 51 test centuries).
Wasim Jaffer is currently the highest run-getter in Ranji matches and was the first to score 11,000 runs in the competition. So this is a guy who knows what he is talking about when he makes this prediction.
Wasim Jaffer is former test player, currently the highest run-getter in Ranji matches and was the first to score 11,000 runs in the competition. So this is a guy who knows what he is talking about when he makes this prediction.
The rate at which Kohli scores is another reason why he is going to set and break records in international cricket. For instance he has the second highest career average (40.88 runs over 236 T20 innings) in the T20 format.
Jaffer also points out these stats. Kohli is now second only to Tendulkar on the list of players with the most ODI centuries. Only four other players have more than 25 tons in one day cricket --- Sachin Tendulkar (49), Ricky Ponting (30), Sanath Jayasuriya (28), Hashim Amla (27), Rohit Sharma (27). Except for Sharma, they are all retired now so they cannot come back and break those records.
Sourav Ganguly is among the most prolific of Indian batsmen. Kohli has now overtaken him in terms of the number of runs scored. Only 14 players have scored over 10,000 runs in ODIs, and it took Kohli only 205 innings to get to 11,000 runs (the fastest ever player to get there).
One commentator also pointed out that Kohli is currently the best batsman in the world by sheer numbers. Another commentator pointed out that Kohli has the most runs, half centuries, centuries, most fours and the highest average in ODIs over the past 10 years as well.
Kohli clearly seems to like playing against the West Indies. He is quickest batsman to have scored 2000 runs against an opposition; taking just 34 innings to get there.
I may personally not be a big fan of Virat Kohli but the man has absolute armies of fans and even his opponents seem to like him. Some dislike his aggression and arrogance, others love it. Now we may debate the pros and cons of Kohli’s personality ad nauseam, but right now no one can deny that if there is anyone who will overtake the magnificent records of Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, it is Kohli. As for those records being sacrosanct and unbreakable in the future; well all I can say is never say never.
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