Why Virat Kohli Is On His Way To Batting Immortality In ODI Cricket

The greatest thing about any sport is its ability to produce champions in every era. For, sport by its very nature is progressive.

A Pele departed, a Maradona arrived, a Sampras departed, a Federer arrived and, in an Indian context, a Tendulkar departed and a Kohli has arrived.

In Indian cricket, Sachin Tendulkar was the gold standard- a man who, for almost a quarter of a century enthralled and captivated the cricketing world with his resplendent deeds with the bat. He took batting to statistically new stratospheres never witnessed before in ODI cricket.

In an unprecedented 463 ODI’s, the ‘Little Master’ scored a colossal 18426 runs and a mind-boggling 49 centuries. When Tendulkar retired from ODI cricket, he was leading his nearest competitor in terms of centuries scored by 19 hundreds (Ricky Ponting was second placed with 30 tons).

When Tendulkar brought down the curtains on his glorious career, all of us thought that he had climbed the highest peaks in the game, and his numbers would never be surpassed.

But then, such is the wonderful nature of cricket that nothing lasts forever….

A certain Virat Kohli has been redefining the meaning of consistency over the last 6 years and has been plundering runs at will in ODI cricket. He has tamed every bowling attack and adapted to every condition that he has played in.

Kohli’s numbers make for almost surreal reading. In the 222 ODI’s that he has played so far, the champion batsman has scored 10533 runs including 39 hundreds and 49 fifties at an astounding average of 59.51.

Kohli is just 30 years old, and with every passing year, he has only gotten better. He has, for the first time made all of us believe that most of Tendulkar’s big-ticket records might be in danger.

Given Kohli’s obsession for fitness, his hunger for runs and his zeal to overcome every challenge on his way, it would be safe to assume that he still has at least 7-8 years of cricket left in him.

Records are indeed meant to be broken, and someday, Tendulkar shall have to be dislodged from the peak.

And, the very thought of what Kohli could achieve by the time he walks into the sunset sends your mind into a tizzy. Even three hundreds per year for the next 8 years would take his tally to 63 ODI hundreds, and 1000 runs per year for the next 8 years would take him past Tendulkar’s colossal aggregate in ODI cricket.

All of us need to understand this - Records are indeed meant to be broken, and someday, Tendulkar shall have to be dislodged from the peak. Kohli grew up watching Tendulkar bat, and as ironic as it may seem, it will be Kohli who, in all probability, dethrone the master from the summit.

Kohli has carried Tendulkar’s legacy forward and is well on his way to batting immortality.

When Kohli eventually goes past Tendulkar, the first person who would be happy is Tendulkar himself.