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The achievements of Virat Kohli often lead to his comparison with the legendary Sachin Tendulkar who retired from the game almost a decade ago.
The former’s hunger for scoring runs has already put him in the league of modern-day greats and soon he will edge past Tendulkar’s long-standing record of most centuries in ODIs.
Tendulkar, fondly called the God of Cricket, scored his last ODI ton against Bangladesh in March 2012 which was his 49th in the 50-over format and 100th overall. On the other hand, Kohli recently smashed his 47th ODI hundred, against Pakistan, and requires three more to go past the Indian legend.
Apart from the cricketing records, another similarity between the two stalwarts is their love for the game. Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar believes that Kohli and Tendulkar both enjoy playing cricket like not many do.
“The one similarity between Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar is that both of them enjoy playing cricket. They want to be on the field. He was not part of the team for the game against Bangladesh but was still on the field. I don’t think Virat Kohli wants power or leadership,” Manjrekar said in an interview with journalist Vimal Kumar.
“He just wants to play and it looks like he enjoys being a part of the team. He captained the team for a very long time, so there is no scope for an unfulfilled dream. Being with the team, travelling with players, going to the ground, and being part of winning moments are more important to him than having power,” he added.
Even in terms of most runs scored in international cricket, Kohli isn’t much behind. He recently entered the top five with 25711 runs and in most likelihood, the former Indian skipper will edge past Mahela Jayawardena (25957 runs) in the forthcoming ODI World Cup. However, Manjrekar believes it won’t be easy for Kohli to beat Tendulkar’s record for most hundreds in Test cricket.
Tendulkar retired with 51 tons in 200 Tests while Kohli has only 29.
“Sachin Tendulkar has 51 hundreds, 17 more than what Sunil Gavaskar finished with. For a good player, accumulating runs in ODIs is comparatively easy, as bowlers don’t always try to take a wicket. Tendulkar and Kohli are special because they also have a lot of Test hundreds. However, I believe it will be very difficult for Kohli to reach 51 Test centuries,” Manjrekar added.
