50 ODI centuries: Kohli thinks he can't but the world and numbers say otherwise

Photo: AP

New Delhi: Will Kohli become the first man to score 50 ODI centuries? 

The number of eye brows raised after this question have lessened. Nobody now makes a frown face. There is a sense of inevitability attached with it. Here’s why…

On his way to an unbeaten 110 on Sunday evening, Virat Kohli equaled Ricky Ponting’s record of 30 ODI hundreds – playing 179 innings less than the former Australian captain. At his current conversion rate, Kohli would end up with a tally of 73 ODI hundreds if he goes onto play the same amount of innings as Sachin Tendulkar did. 

That is of course just pure mathematics, not taking any cricketing factor like longevity, fitness, injury and most importantly form into consideration. Still, just for pure imagination Kohli’s fast galloping of centuries is a mesmerizing thing in itself. However, the man himself doesn’t even want to believe that he is capable of going near to Tendulkar’s feat.

"The great man (Sachin Tendulkar) is quite a bit away. That's going to take a hell of an effort. Again, I am not thinking about that. It's only about the team where even if I score a 90 not out and the team goes across the line, it's good enough for me," Kohli said at the post-match press conference when the inevitable question of Tendulkar's record cropped up.

He once again stressed that a player can't play for records and the team comes first.

"I look to perform as well as I can for the team. These things keep happening as you go along in your career. You don't target these things, but those stat windows are hard to neglect because they pop up everywhere after you have achieved something," said Kohli.

Kohli may not want to think about overhauling his batting hero but the Kohli-Tendulkar comparison is just the perfect topic to heat up a group discussion. 

Just pure numbers suggest, Kohli is way ahead of Tendulkar, as of now. The fact that always crops in the speech of those speaking for Tendulkar is age, Tendulkar’s early start, as early as 16. 

Kohli is currently 28 years and 302 days old. He has 8537 runs at a mindboggling average of 55.75, scored at a strike rate of 91.72 in 186 innings. At the same time, Tendulkar had already appeared in 278 innings, amassing 11069 runs at an average of 43.92 and the strike rate was 86.50. 

One must remember that Tendulkar did not start as an opener and he got his first ODI hundred after playing 5 years of international cricket. But the question here is not who is a greater player but instead can Kohli beat Tendulkar in terms of runs and centuries? By pure numbers and mathematics, he surely can.

And if those cover drives and backfoot punches on that slow Colmobo wicket and those training videos shared on social are anything go by then Kohli could go well beyond the mathematics.