How many ODI centuries will Virat Kohli score in his illustrious career?

A century per ODI

Up until today (217 innings), on an average, Virat has scored a century more or less every 5th/6th inning. Interestingly, since Jan’16, the Indian captain has scored as many 18 ODI centuries in just 59 Innings – a century almost every 3rd inning. Though he appears to be in the form of his life now, it is inevitable that he will, just like any other legend, have patches of poor form in the coming years. Also, with age catching up at a later stage in his career, he may just slow down a bit. Therefore, we will assume a career’s average of a century every 5th inning.

Virat Kohli celebrating yet another century

Workload Management

Considering the amount of cricket Team India is scheduled to play in the coming years combined with the massive responsibility of captaining the Indian team, Virat is certainly expected to have a burnout not just physically but psychology as well. Understanding this very fact, the selectors have been extremely wise in resting the champion batsman for not so important series and keeping him fresh and fit for major tournaments. Hence, we can expect him to miss out on a few ODI matches (5) every year.

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Based on the above-mentioned assumptions, now let’s calculate the expected number of ODI centuries Virat Kohli will end up in his incredible cricketing career:

· Years of International cricket (based on expected retirement age) – 9 years

· Team India’s ODI per year – 20 ODIs (based on ICC FTP)

· In the interest of keeping Virat fresh and fit (Workload Management) – 5 ODIs per year

· A century in every 5th inning.

Therefore, Virat Kohli is expected to play 15 ODIs a year for the next 9 years amounting to a total of 135 ODIs for the rest of his career. Considering his consistency (a century every game), the legend should end up scoring more 27 more ODI centuries – An unimaginable total of 68 ODI centuries!

Again, these numbers are just merely based on assumptions but they appear quite realistic considering the way the Virat Kohli is moving forward. In fact, the way he is working on his game every single day, we may even end up witnessing a few more ODI centuries than expected.

So let’s just sit back and enjoy watching the legend take over the world of cricket.