Virat Kohli at 30: Chasing the masters of the game

Today, on November 5th, Indian Cricket Captain Virat Kohli is celebrating his birthday and he turns 30! For a cricketer, if teens is the time to get recognized and 20s to consolidate, turning 30 and getting into early 30s is the time to peak.

Peaking at 30

Just before turning 30, Indian master blaster Sachin Tendulkar was adjudged "Player of the Tournament" in ICC World Cup 2003, his best performance among all of his six World Cup appearances. His teammate and former Indian batting mainstay Rahul Dravid had just finished a great calendar year 2002 running into his 30s. And as he turned 30, Australian great Ricky Ponting had just started his stint as captain of his team which ruled the cricketing world for the next 4 years.

Virat Kohli's story is even better! Till now, the year 2018 has been really great for him. In 10 Test appearances, he has amassed 1063 runs at an average of 59.05 with 4 centuries. His ODI records are even better; in 14 matches, he has scored 1202 runs with a mind-blowing average of 133.55 with the help of 6 centuries. In comparison, the T20I records are modest in 2018, but he has played only 7 matches in which he has collected 146 runs at the rate of 24.33.

Having enjoyed a great calendar year 2018

On Par with Cricketing Greats

As the "Chase Master" is already being considered among the modern day cricketing greats, the comparison becomes inevitable to highlight his achievements. Here is an attempt to compare Kohli's numbers against the Top 5 run-getters (combining Tests and ODIs) of the game - Sachin Tendulkar (Ind), Ricky Ponting (Aus), Jacques Kallis (SA), Rahul Dravid (Ind) and Kumara Sangakkara (SL).

As Kohli has just turned 30, the scope of comparison has been restricted to the playing duration from the time each of the players made their debut to the time they turned 30. The below table gives the comparison with respect to Tests:

Kohli@30 - Comparison against the greats of the game in Tests

As you can observe Kohli has started his Test career late and played fewer matches compared to Sachin, Kallis and Ponting at the turn of 30. The playing duration is same as Sanga but has few matches more to his credit than Sanga and Dravid as well.

Because of more number of matches and innings, Sachin and Kallis have had more runs than Kohli and on the same note, he scores more than Sanga and Dravid as they had lesser matches to their credit. But he almost has the same number of runs as Ponting though with 10 matches (10 innings) lesser in credit. Virat's average is on par with all those five greats and the number of centuries is just second to Sachin's.

When we move to ODIs for comparing, you can observe how Kohli's numbers tower over most of the greats after turning 30.

Kohli@30 - Comparison against the greats of the game in ODIs

Though started his ODI career relatively earlier compared to Ponting, Kallis, Sanga and Dravid, Kohli's number of matches are more or less in the range compared to them. But in terms of runs, Kohli betters them in the range of 2500-3500. Only Sachin had played more matches and scored more runs when he was 30, but the Chase Master is way ahead of him when it comes to average and number of centuries.

Well set to break all batting records

The point to be noted is - all the cricketing Masters against whom Kohli has been compared had enjoyed their peak form after 30 as well and extended their career till their late 30s. Sanga, Ponting and Kallis retired after getting to 38, Dravid bid his adieu after turning 39 and Sachin extended even after turning 40!

If the same follows for Kohli as well, then no wonder he would be surpassing all of them and end up sitting on top of the chart of every batting record table. This would definitely be among one of the wishes of every Kohli fan celebrating his 31st birthday.