‘Can get at least 50 more’: Harbhajan’s jaw-dropping Kohli-Tendulkar prediction

Team India’s star batter Virat Kohli ended over a three-year long wait for a century in Tests, as he smashed a brilliant 186 in the first innings of the fourth Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test on Sunday.

Kohli’s sublime knock took India to a mammoth score of 570/9 against Australia, giving the hosts an important 91-run lead in Ahmedabad; the visitors had put 480 in their first innings after opting to bat. This was Kohli’s 28th Test century and 75th in international cricket, becoming the only second batter in the history of the game to reach the mark after the legendary Sachin Tendulkar.

Kohli has often been touted to break Tendulkar’s run-scoring records; however, the talks around the same had died down a bit when the 34-year-old batter had hit a rough patch last year. Since scoring a century against Bangladesh in November 2019, Kohli had to wait for nearly three years to reach the three-figure mark again; it eventually came in the Asia Cup against Afghanistan in August last year, which kickstarted a ‘second wind’ of sorts in the Indian batter’s career.

Since then, Kohli has scored four international centuries – three of them coming in ODIs – before he finally reached his ton in the whites. Justifiably, the comparisons with Tendulkar have begun again and there are rejuvenated hopes of Kohli finally eclipsing the India great’s long-standing record of 100 centuries in international cricket. And interestingly, one of India’s former cricketers – who spent a large part of his career sharing the dressing room with Tendulkar – has stated that Kohli will not only break the record, but also holds the potential to score fifty more centuries!

Former India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh spoke in detail about Kohli’s ton and made a major prediction about the Indian batter when asked whether he could break Tendulkar’s incredible record.

“It’s certainly possible. I think he can score more than that (100 centuries). Two things favour Virat here; his age, and his fitness. He’s 34 but his fitness is that of a 24-year-old cricketer. He’s way ahead in that aspect. He has already scored 75 centuries, he can score at least 50 more. He knows his game and he plays all formats,” Harbhajan told Sports Tak.

“You might think I’m going overboard with this, but it is certainly possible. If anyone can do it, it’s Virat Kohli. Rest all are far behind him. He knew he had to work on his fitness, because his batting abilities are god-gifted. I don’t think he will stop from here. There are no technical faults, and even if they are, he works on them and rectifies them. Since his return (after break), he has already scored five centuries. This is pretty much a comeback for him,” Harbhajan further stated.

The former off-spinner further stated that Indian batters needed a pitch like the one in Ahmedabad after bowler-friendly surfaces in the first three Tests of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, where matches ended within three days.

“It’s nice that he (Kohli) got a chance to bat on a pitch that assists batters. Earlier, the games used to end in three days and bowlers ruled the roost. Virat, Rohit (Sharma), (Cheteshwar) Pujara also have the right to get pitches where they can score runs. A fifty on bowling-friendly surfaces is like a hundred, and they’ve done that,” Harbhajan said.