Will Virat Kohli overtake Sachin Tendulkar? A look through numbers
NEW DELHI: On Tuesday, Virat Kohli scored a unique hat-trick winning the top three annual International Cricket Council (ICC) awards, which added another feather to the illustrious cap of India captain, who is setting new batting standards in world cricket.
Kohli won his second consecutive Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for ICC Cricketer of the Year and was also named the ICC Test and ODI Player of the Year, besides being appointed the captain of the ICC’s Test and ODI teams of the year.
Kohli scored 1,322 runs at an average of 55.08 in 13 Tests with five hundreds during the calendar year, while in 14 ODIs he amassed 1202 runs at an astonishing average of 133.55 with six centuries. He also scored 211 runs in 10 T20Is.
“Not only is Kohli the first player to win these three major ICC awards together but he has also been named the captain of the ICC Test and ODI teams of the year for a fabulous run in international cricket,” the ICC said in a statement.
The awards and rapidly growing numbers of Kohli’s career have once again fueled the debate if he will overtake the batting standards set by the iconic Sachin Tendulkar, who scored 100 international centuries in his glittering career.
In 77 Tests so far, Kohli has scored 6,613 runs at an average of 53.8 with 25 centuries and 20 fifties. Before ending his career, Tendulkar had scored 15,921 runs in 200 Tests at an average of 53.78 with 51 centuries and 68 fifties.
In 50-over internationals, Kohli has so far played 219 matches (till the end of Australia tour), scoring 10,385 runs at an average of 59.7 with 39 hundreds and 48 half-centuries. In comparison, Sachin played 463 ODIs in his career and made 18,426 runs at an average of 44.83 with 49 hundreds and 96 half-centuries.
“I think at the moment Virat is the best. He will break all the records,” Pakistan legend and former captain Zaheer Abbas had said recently on Kohli’s prolific form.
At the current career rate, it will take Kohli 10 more years to go past Tendulkar’s career Test runs and 7 years and 4 months to go past the number of Test tons scored by Tendulkar. However, if the Indian captain keeps going at the speed similar to his last three calendar years, he will leave Tendulkar behind in 7 years and 10 months for Test runs and 4 years and 8 months for Test centuries.
“Obviously, confidence will come when you have so many strokes and when you know how to stay at the wicket. These skills don’t come easily. It takes time and hard work and one needs to develop a system for this,” Abbas had added in his praise for Kohli-led Indian battling line-up.
