“Only one guy has done it” - Ravi Shastri shares his views on whether Virat Kohli can score 100 centuries

Former India head coach Ravi Shastri reckons that equaling or surpassing Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 100 international centuries won’t be easy for Virat Kohli. He, however, asserted that Kohli is extremely fit and can easily go on to play for another five to six years.

Kohli, 34, has so far featured in 108 Tests, 274 ODIs, and 115 T20Is. He has registered a total of 75 international hundreds - 28 in Tests, 46 in ODIs, and one in T20Is. The right-handed batter scored his first Test hundred since November 2019 against Australia in Ahmedabad earlier this month during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

In an interaction with SportsYaari, Shastri shared his views on whether Kohli can go past Tendulkar’s record of 100 international tons. He opined:

“How many players have scored 100 hundreds? Just one. So if you are saying that he can cross that mark, it’s a big thing. He still has a lot of cricket left in him. He is very fit. And when a player of that class starts scoring centuries then it follows one after the other. Probably in a stretch of 15 matches, there will be seven hundreds. Kohli can still easily play cricket for five to six years because he is fit.”

Admitting that breaking Tendulkar’s record will be tough even for someone like Kohli, Shastri added:

“It is not easy by any stretch of imagination that is why only one guy has done it. But the fact that you are telling me he might reach there is a big thing.”

Kohli was recently part of the Indian team that went down 1-2 to Australia in the three-match one-day series. He registered scores of four, 31, and 54.

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“I am just back to playing the way I do” - Virat Kohli

Following the conclusion of the series against Australia, Kohli is now preparing for IPL 2023 with Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).

Opening up ahead of the upcoming season of the T20 league, the former captain said in a video posted on RCB’s Twitter handle:

"I am just back to playing the way I do. There's still a lot of room to get to my best which hopefully happens in the IPL if I am able to get to the level I want to play at and help the team and it will be exciting."

On having rediscovered his form in international cricket since returning from a mental break, Kohli explained:

"It was about rediscovering my love for the game and I could do that only after I could step away from what was happening on the field for so long. I was absolutely exhausted and I needed to connect to myself as a human first and not judge myself constantly and keep myself under scrutiny all the time.”

Kohli is the leading run-getter in the IPL, with 6624 in 223 matches at an average of 36.20 and a strike rate of 129.15.