Former India captain Virat Kohli is considered one of the best players of this era. With every international century, he reaches close to the batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar. If any batter has the ability to reach the Master Blaster in terms of centuries, it’s Kohli. In the 1990s and 2000s, Tendulkar made headlines with his batting and the world cricket found the world’s greatest batsman as well. And, Virat Kohli has taken the baton forward too. While he grows further and breaks records, the obvious comparison between them comes into place as well.
However, Virat Kohli had a lean patch for nearly 3 years but he returned to form last year during the Asia Cup and scored back-to-back centuries, and it can be said that 2023 will once be his year of him as well. With Kohli smashing his 45th ODI century, it is only a matter of time before he scores five more tons and surpasses Sachin Tendulkar for the most hundreds in the ODI format as well. With a few more years left in Kohli’s career, it can be expected that he can touch the veteran’s record as well.
ALSO READ: Fans react as the first Test between INDvNZ ended in a draw
Meanwhile, Sachin’s former India teammate Sanjay Manjrekar believes Kohli’s real challenge is not the next five ODI hundreds, but equalling the batting great’s tally of Test centuries as well. Tendulkar, with 51 centuries, is miles ahead of everyone, and Kohli needs 22 more hundreds as well. At 34, with 29 Test centuries, Virat Kohli has a lot of catching up to do but Manjrekar hopes Virat should try hard to achieve it.
READ HERE: Wasim Jaffer names batting-order for 2nd Test vs New Zealand
“It’s Sachin’s Test hundreds that are going to be a big mountain for Kohli to climb. He (Kohli) is an all-time great in this format (ODI); not saying that he is not a Test match great. Tendulkar’s real greatness was 51 Test hundreds. That’s the one which is going to be a real pursue for him and I hope he carries that aspiration and gets there,” Sanjay Manjrekar, Tendulkar’s former Mumbai and India teammate shared on the Byju’s Cricket Live Show.
