Virat Kohli is the best contemporary batsman, check the stats as numbers don’t lie

Kohli is the second on the list of scoring most international hundreds in the history of cricket, just behind the legendary Tendulkar.

Virat Kohli is the best contemporary batsman, check the stats as numbers don’t lie

Virat Kohli

India’s talismanic batter Virat Kohli raced to his 73rd international ton against Sri Lanka on Tuesday. What more would the jam-packed crowd at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium need to witness than Kohli’s exploits? India reached 373/7 in 50 overs owing to the openers and Kohli’s 113 off 87 balls.

“Jinxing is overrated,” tweeted Ravichandran Ashwin after India’s innings and Kohli’s ton. He previously did some guesswork on the micro-blogging platform saying, “Let’s take a guess, how many of you think that we are going to score 400+ with a 73rd for @imVKohli?” Although India couldn’t cross the 400-run mark, Kohli lived up to the expectations.

Kohli was quite a sensation amongst the big names like Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag when he first appeared on the scene. He has always been sprinting towards achieving what the great Tendulkar has amassed – his huge tally of runs that batters can just dream of.

Even Kohli cannot cross Tendulkar’s monstrous record of 15921 Test runs nor his ODI aggregate of 18,426 runs. And that is why, maybe, former India cricketer-turned-expert Gautam Gambhir said something, which did not go well with the fans though. His latest reaction when Kohli scored his century, was this: “You can’t compare Virat with Tendulkar. In Sachin’s era there weren’t five players inside the 30-yard circle,” he said on Star Sports.

Related: Star India wants discount from BCCI; Byju’s wants to encash bank guarantee

Virat Kohli has already surpassed Sachin Tendulkar in other areas

Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli

It’s yet to be seen who can break that ultimate record of amassing more runs than Tendulkar (34,357 international runs). But Kohli has already surpassed Tendulkar so many times in other areas. It’s worth noting that Kohli took 99 innings to score his 20th ton at home, while Tendulkar did the same in 160 innings. Even on his way to his ton, he became the fastest cricketer to reach 125000 ODI runs in 257 innings.

Kohli, 34, will play more matches in the future – the fitness freak that he is, which helps him score more, mostly by running between wickets. He spoke about his diet and fitness during the innings break. He told Star Sports this: “I am quite aware of what I eat, diet is the most important thing at this age. That keeps me in prime shape. That helps me give my 100 percent for the team.”

This 45th ODI ton was his back-to-back century; the last he did was against Bangladesh last year. Records are meant to be broken and Kohli will break Tendulkar’s record of 49 ODI centuries if he can reach the three-digit mark four more times.

And last but not the least, Kohli has no competition at present; he is the modern-day batting giant. He is far ahead of the current cricketers in terms of the total number of centuries. He has the 73rd international ton, the second on the list is David Warner who has 45 international hundreds. Notably, Kohli is the second on the list of scoring most international hundreds in the history of cricket; again, just behind the legendary Tendulkar.

In case you missed:

“Too good for this planet’s bowlers”- Suryakumar Yadav shatters records after his special knock against Sri Lanka

 IPL 2023: Chennai Super Kings probable playing XI