Virat Kohli is writing new records in the One-Day International cricket with every passing day. Most recent came during the series opener against New Zealand in Mumbai, where Kohli, playing his 200th ODI, scored a masterful century, which helped him to go past Ricky Ponting in the list of most hundreds in ODI cricket.
Now, everyone is having one question in their mind, whether Kohli can break Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 49 tons or not. If we go by Sourav Ganguly, he believes Kohli is as good as Tendulkar in ODIs.
Ganguly said “It is possible and you cannot rule that out. We will have to wait and see but 19 hundreds (Virat needs to break Sachin’s record) is a long way and people do not get 19 hundreds in their career. But I think we should forget about hundreds, forget about whether he gets to Tendulkar or not because probably he is as good as Tendulkar when it comes to ODI cricket.”
“He is a fantastic batsman, he will continue to score runs and keep winning a lot of matches for India. He is in his late 20’s now (Virat turns 29 on 5th Nov) and is going to get older and will be in his mid-thirties in a few years. He is a very fit cricketer so I do not think age will be a factor for him,” he added.
Ganguly and Tendulkar are among one of the iconic pairs in the cricketing field. This pair has shared several memorable stands for India, which contains the highest opening partnership for India. They scored 258 against Kenya in 2001 for the first wicket. Dada feels current Indian captain is also in the same league of Tendulkar.
“India has produced champions in different generations. It was Gavaskar in his time, Tendulkar in our time and Virat Kohli in this time. He is one of the greats in One-Day cricket,” he further explained. “I was fortunate enough to play with some champions like Tendulkar, Dravid, Kumble, Harbhajan & VVS Laxman and I think Virat Kohli is a champion player in this era.”
“He has still got a lot of cricket left and he is going to score a lot of runs in the years to come. We congratulate him on behalf of India Today for what he has done and wish him (the best),” Prince of Kolkata said.
Despite a magnificent hundred by Kohli, Team India failed to win the contest in Wankhede Stadium. Thus, New Zealand is holding a lead of 1-0 in three-match series. Second ODI will be played tomorrow in Pune. Now, every game for India is a knockout game. They have to win both of the remaining matches to win this series.
