3 records of Sachin Tendulkar that Virat Kohli broke in 2019

More than 11 years have passed since Virat Kohli made his debut in international cricket. Since then, every series that Kohli has played has been a step forward in his career; his undying passion and dedication towards the game have taken him to several new heights.

As he has grown in his career, he has consistently broken and created many records. It seems the day is not far when he holds practically every significant batting record in cricket - at least in the limited overs format.

Many critics and fans have compared Kohli with yesteryear legends who played the game - most notably, with Sachin Tendulkar. Kohli has already surpassed numerous records that Tendulkar had created, which provides added fuel to the comparison.

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Kohli, who has been in impressive form in the recent past, has continued his record-breaking spree this year as well. The Indian captain has played 23 ODIs, eight Tests and seven T20Is in 2019, amassing over 2000 runs while hitting seven centuries and eight half-centuries across formats.

On that note, here's a look at three records belonging to Tendulkar that Kohli broke in the year 2019:

#1 Fastest to 20,000 international runs

Like Tendulkar, Kohli has also been an excellent player across formats. In 2018, he broke the record for fastest to 19,000 international runs, reaching the mark in just 399 innings. The record earlier belonged to Tendulkar, who achieved the feat in 432 innings.

This year, he continued his glorious form which helped him surpass the record of the fastest to 20,000 international runs, which jointly belonged to Brian Lara and Tendulkar. The two stalwarts achieved the feat in 453 innings, while Kohli accomplished it in just 417.

Kohli reached the landmark in the match against West Indies in the World Cup. He thus became the 12th batsman and third Indian after Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid to reach 20,000 international runs.

#2 Most International 100s while batting second

Virat Kohli has scored seven centuries in 2019

Virat Kohli is widely known for being a chase master. His calculative approach and tendency to aggressively take on the bowlers while chasing have been widely lauded and have helped him succeed most of the time.

Kohli has scored a large percentage of his runs while chasing. He has also admitted a few times that he likes batting second.

Before the start of the year, Kohli had 38 centuries and Sachin Tendulkar had 39 while batting second (across formats). Kohli added two more tons to his tally this year to surpass Tendulkar's record, and then continued extending it.

The Indian skipper currently has 42 centuries while batting second (26 in ODIs and 16 in Tests), three more than the Little Master's tally (who scored 17 in ODI run chases and 22 in Tests while batting second). In 2019 Kohli hit seven centuries in total, among which four came while batting second.

Kohli has shown with his statistics that he is among the best chasers the world has ever seen.

#3 Most ODI 100s in a winning cause

During his era, Sachin Tendulkar often used to be the lone warrior for India; the Men in Blue would win most matches when he hit a ton. On the other hand, while Virat Kohli is used to piloting the batting with support from his teammates, he has still scored numerous centuries to lead the team to victory.

The record of most ODI 100s in a winning cause belonged to Tendulkar, who had 33 such centuries.

Before the start of the year, Kohli had already registered 31 100+ scores that had resulted in a win. In 2019 he hit five more ODI centuries, among which four resulted in victory - thus taking his tally to 35 and breaking Tendulkar's long-held record.

Kohli hit three centuries against Australia and two against West Indies in 2019. While the two against West Indies and two out of three against Australia turned out to be beneficial as India went on to win those matches, the 123 he struck against the Aussies at Ranchi went in vain as India faltered in their chase of 314.

If not for that defeat, Kohli would have had a 100% victory percentage of 100s in a winning cause this year.