Former India coach Ravi Shastri is confident that modern-era great Virat Kohli can match Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 100 international centuries. This comes after Kohli went past the legendary batter’s record of 49 ODI tons in recent ICC World Cup 2023 semi-final.
India defeated New Zealand by 70 runs in Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium on November 15. India had opted to bat first after winning the toss and posted 397/4 in 50 overs. Shubman Gill made 80*, Rohit Sharma made 47 in 20 balls. Shreyas Iyer scored his second consecutive century in CWC 2023, scoring 105 in 70 balls with 8 sixes.
But the moment belonged to Virat Kohli, who scored 117 runs and became the first batter to reach 50 ODI centuries, going past Sachin Tendulkar’s record. With this ton, Kohli also completed 80 centuries in international cricket, just behind Tendulkar’s record of 100.
"Who would have thought when Sachin Tendulkar got 100 hundreds that anyone would come close? And, he's got 80; 80 international hundreds, 50 of them in the one-day game, which makes him the highest. Unreal," said Shastri during The ICC Review.
"Nothing's impossible because such players, when they start reeling off hundreds, then they score them pretty quickly. His next 10 innings, you might see another five hundreds. You have three formats of the game, and he's part of all those formats. To think that he still has three or four years of cricket ahead of him is simply mind-boggling,” he added.
Shastri was also in awe of Kohli's ability to soak in the pressure.
"I think his composure, his body language, his calmness at the crease (in this WC). I have seen him come out in previous World Cups where he's like a cat on a hot tin roof. He wanted to get on with it straight away. None of that sort here. He's taken his time, marked his guard, soaked the pressure, given himself time, and understood his role of batting deep in the innings. He's just been wonderful," he added.
Shastri, who has worked closely with Kohli throughout his coaching career, stated that he is able to run freely between the wickets because he maintains his top level of fitness with a strict diet that incorporates cardio and fitness control.
"One of the features of his batting has been his running between the wickets. The fact that he doesn't have to hit boundaries and sixes, he can run hard between the wickets because of his physical fitness. That takes the pressure off him. Even when he's not getting the boundaries, he's still rotating the strike. He always has that uncanny ability of making it up towards the back end of the innings," he added.
Shastri went into further detail on Kohli's batting practice, which consists of a mix of mental adjustments, technical tweaks, and physical conditioning.
"It's a mix of all three. (It) gives him some time to be calm and composed at the beginning of the innings. His shot selection in the first 10-15 runs, he doesn't take that extra risk. He's quite prepared to leave deliveries, knock the ball around," he noted.
(PTI inputs)
