Virat Kohli set to break Sachin Tendulkar’s world record in double quick time, 67 runs away from surpassing Jayawardene
Fresh from his monumental century in the series opener against Sri Lanka, run machine Virat Kohli will hope to extend his free-scoring run in the upcoming encounter at the Eden Gardens on Thursday.
Kohli’s scintillating knock against the Dasun Shanaka-led side propelled Rohit Sharma and Co. to a gigantic total of 373-7 in the 50-over contest at Barsapara Cricket Stadium. Kohli slammed his 45th ton in the 50-over format to equal Sachin Tendulkar’s massive feat in One Day Internationals (ODIs) on Tuesday at Guwahati.
The 34-year-old smashed 113 off 87 balls to seal Team India’s 67-run win in the 1st ODI against Sri Lanka. Kohli eclipsed Tendulkar’s record of most centuries against Sri Lanka in the 50-over format at Guwahati. Kohli has nine centuries against the 1996 world champions – the most by any batter in the history of the 50-over format. Leading India’s batting charge in the series decider, Kohli will aim to break Tendulkar’s sensational home record.
Batting icons Kohli and Tendulkar have slammed 20 ODI centuries each for Team India at home – the joint-most by any cricketer on home soil. Thus, Kohli can surpass Tendulkar if the batting maestro registers his 46th ODI ton in the upcoming match against Sri Lanka at Eden Gardens. Kohli, however, will be much quicker to the record than Tendulkar if gets to another three-figure score in this series. Kohli has 20 home ODI centuries in just 101 matches while Tendulkar had taken 160 matches. His last hundred came in a 2011 World Cup match against England. Since then, the legendary cricketer played only 4 ODIs – all in the same tournament.
Interestingly, Kohli can shatter two ODI records in the series decider against Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens. The former Indian skipper has amassed 12,584 runs for the two-time champions in the 50-over format. The in-form batter needs 67 runs to zoom past Mahela Jayawardene’s tally of 12,650 runs in ODIs.
If Kohli ends up surpassing the former Sri Lanka skipper, the Indian batter will break into the top 5 of all-time leading run-getters in ODI cricket. One of the most decorated players in the history of the game, Kohli has played 266 ODIs for Team India. The swashbuckling batter has notched up 73 international centuries in international cricket. Kohli has smashed 45 tons in ODIs while the ex-India skipper has 27 centuries under his belt in Test cricket.