Ex-India spinner R. Ashwin has stated that the chances of Virat Kohli achieving 100 international centuries are logically possible, and if he manages to achieve it, for him, Kohli will be at par with Sachin Tendulkar.
Ashwin does not like to make comparisons between Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli, because these two outstanding cricketers have operated in completely different times and had different conditions.
According to Ashwin, Kohli could be a great batter in any period, but still, he considers Tendulkar to take the lead when talking about the comparison of these two legends, as the master blaster has worked under much harder conditions.
This debate was reignited when Virat Kohli made 139* for India in the first ODI of the three-match series against West Indies. This game was played in Thiruvananthapuram and saw India chase 295 runs thanks to Shubman Gill’s 110 and Kohli’s 55th ODI century. With this ton, Kohli also became only the second batter to achieve 15,000 runs in ODI cricket.
“And every time I’ll stick my neck out and say Sachin Tendulkar is ahead on two counts. First, I’m a big fan. And how he played, the circumstances in his career, and Indian cricket’s hope," Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
Ashwin highlighted various changes to white-ball cricket that make it difficult to compare the two batting greats statistically. He made it clear that the introduction of two new balls, fielding restrictions, and the differences in behavior of the white ball had been taken into consideration.
According to Ashwin, Tendulkar used to play a lot of ODI cricket in the day when the ball became hard due to reverse swing and general softness.
“It is not Virat Kohli’s fault. If Virat Kohli in any generation batted at number 3 for India, he would have been a champion player; I have no doubts. But look at the rules: even yesterday, in the first innings, when West Indies were batting, after 34 overs, one ball had to be used. The ball became completely old in daylight. Sachin Tendulkar played a lot of 50-over cricket in daytime. And to compare people of two generations is absolutely sinister in my view," he added.
Ashwin also made mention of how his own rapport with Kohli had grown quite strong during the past few years, only saying earlier on that it had been “not bad,” since both were competitors.
“My relationship with Virat Kohli became better over the last five, six, seven years. It became better," he said.
During the same conversation, Ashwin stated that it was logically possible for Kohli to achieve and go past Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 100 international centuries. With this recent hundred, Kohli now has 86 international tons. Ashwin stated that if Kohli does it, he’ll doff his hat and consider him equal to Tendulkar.
“Logically, this can happen. But if he does it—I will take my hat off, and it will be a remarkable achievement. Mark my words, it will be a remarkable achievement. If he does that, ask the same question about Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli, and I will say both of them are on the same level without a shadow of a doubt,” Ashwin stated.
Virat Kohli will be in action when India takes on West Indies in the second ODI in Guwahati on September 30.
