Image courtesy of: NDTV

“Now Virat needs 32 more hundreds to go”

Legendary India batsman Sunil Gavaskar believes vice-captain Virat Kohli has a chance of surpassing Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 49 ODI centuries, given the rate at which he has scored his 17 tons.

Kohli became the fastest cricketer to score 17 ODI centuries, taking just 118 matches, while Tendulkar only managed to amass eight after the same number of games.

“That is what human progress is all about,” Gavaskar told NDTV. “Records are meant to be broken.

“While we know that some of Tendulkar’s records are well nigh impossible to be able to get like 200 Test matches, nor anybody can reach 51 Test hundreds.

“But the manner in which Virat is batting, the record for 49 hundreds looks possible,” he said. “Now Virat needs 32 more hundreds to go and the number of ODIs India play he can do it. This cricketing season itself, Virat can get to 20 or 22 hundreds.”

Eleven of Kohli’s 17 centuries have come while chasing a target and the 24-year-old only needs seven more to break the record for the most hundreds while chasing in ODIs, which currently belongs to Tendulkar.

Gavaskar noted that he also was impressed at how easily Kohli was able to adapt his game to fit the situation of the match.

“He reads the conditions and situations well, he knows the opposition well and that’s the reason why he is scoring so consistently,” Gavaskar said. “India is blessed to have somebody of the talent of Virat Kohli coming through. The fact that he has in his emerging years spent a lot of time with the likes of Sachin, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman and put that experience to good use on the field speaks very highly of this young man’s cricketing intelligence. That is the key.”