Maestro at stick Virat Kohli He has made one “hell of a record” by reaching his 50th place ODI hundred but no one is getting close to the distant milestone, according to Indian great Gundappa Viswanath.
Kohli eclipsed Sachin Tendulkar`s 49 ODI hundred during his 117 against New Zealand in the World Cup semi-final on Wednesday to propel India into the final for the first time since 2011.
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“Sometime back, I had said that if anyone can come closer to Sachin in the 100s, it will be Kohli. I did not expect that he will break,” Viswanath told PTI during an interview.
“His consistency, I mean, everyone is talking about his hundreds but the way he was getting 70s and 80s, any batsman will do that. It’s (only) because of his consistency he got 50-plus scores towards his cricket, he has plenty of cricket.
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“There are not many who can come closer, although Rohit (Sharma) has about 30 plus hundreds, so (there is) still a long way (to go) for him, but I can’t say that there is somebody .He has achieved one hell by scoring one more than Sachin,¿ he said.
In addition to 50 ODI centuries, Kohli has 29 centuries in Tests and one in T20Is out of a total of 80 scores over 100.
During the semi-final, Kohli became the first ever batsman to break the 700-run barrier in a single edition of the World Cup with one match to go.
“I am not comparing him with Sachin because they are two different cricketers, (there are) no comparisons but both are great, absolutely legends. The best part is that they know what they are doing. Their Sachin knew what he was doing and Kohli said he is my guru and he is going along the way, he said.
Kohli’s batting is amazing, said Viswanath.
Tendulkar has scored 49 tons in ODIs and 51 centuries in Tests and is the only batsman so far to have centuries to his name.
Can Kohli break Tendulkar’s record of scoring a hundred international tons?
“Well, it depends on how many Test matches we play. Few are coming up with South Africa and England, you can’t get 100s in all the games but he can score. We will have to see,” he said. .
`KL Rahul`s DRS` is a plus point
74-year-old Viswanath, who was part of the Indian team during the 1975 and 1979 World Cups, praised KL Rahul for his will and correct inputs during DRS calls.
“Rahul is not a regular keeper for India but nobody mentioned anything about his keeping, so it means he is keeping well,” observed Visawanath.
Rahul contributed a lot not only with his bat but also with his correct DRS calls. His accurate calls have prevented India from wrong diversion during the World Cup at least five times so far.
“It’s an extra point,” said Viswanath, who scored 6,080 runs, including 14 in his 91 Tests for India.
“(MS) Dhoni was the captain and he was right most of the time (with his DRS calls) but here, Rahul is the keeper and Rohit is the captain but he is not in the line of the ball. If he is covering or short equator, he has to take Rahul’s help and he is giving it so perfectly, he said.
“Host multinational events to keep the ODI format alive”
Kohli’s 50th century during the World Cup breathed life into the ODI format which many consider to be dying a slow death amidst the razzmatazz of T20s, a format that has spread across the world over the past decade.
Viswanath feels that hosting multi-year events could be key to keeping the 50-overs format alive.
“Four years is too much, I’m not saying the World Cup is played once every two years, but you have to create some other format.
“All the teams can play like this every two years, don’t call it the World Cup, but in some other form like the Champions Cup. So there are bigger games with all the teams playing then people will be watching on you, that’s the only way to stand ODIs,” he said.
For this reason, the ICC Champions Trophy is set to return in 2025 with Pakistan booked as hosts.
“Bilateral ODIs are not helping, he is not giving the punishment, ¿Indian batting has been impressive.
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