As Virat reached the feat of getting the fastest 10,000 runs in ODIs, he surpassed the master blaster Sachin Tendulkar’s record. With over 1000 ODI runs in 2018, Kohli walks out to the crease with an aura of near-invincibility but he said the secret still lies in working hard for every run and never taking things for granted but when we compare both the players we find that Virat got fewer opportunities than Sachin. Sachin started his international career at the age of 16 while on the other hand, Virat debuted at an age of 19.
Comparison after 205 innings suggests Advantage-Kohli:
Tendulkar after 205 Innings:
Runs: 7829
Average: 42.31
Strike Rate: 86.52
Hundreds: 21
The fifties: 43
Percentage of Team Runs: 17.64%
Man of the Match (for batting): 30
Kohli after 205 Innings:
Runs: 10076
Average: 59.62
Strike Rate: 92.85
Hundreds: 37
The fifties: 48
Percentage of Team Runs: 16.93%
Man of the Match (for batting): 30
Tendulkar once made a prediction at a lavish bash thrown by IPL team Mumbai Indian’s owner Mukesh Ambani to felicitate him for completing his 100th ton after Salman Khan lobbed a question that what do you think that who is going to precede you, I don’t think anyone can break your unreachable record. Tendulkar laughed and said I can see those youngsters; Rohit and Virat are the ones. As long as Indian breaks it I don’t mind said laughingly.
On several occasions, Sachin mentioned the charm and elegance of Rohit Sharma, but never said so fluently about Virat, on the other hand, Virat admires him the most as he repeatedly quotes about Tendulkar.
But MS Dhoni always had said that Virat is lone who will match the feat of great Sachin Tendulkar, and the way Virat is playing and smashing the opposition it appears that no record will stand in his endeavor.
Kohli is clearly the greater run-scorer. He has a bigger appetite for big runs than Tendulkar. He is also a phenomenal and better chaser. But Tendulkar has been the more attacking batsman who redefined the art of aggressive batsman in the late 1990s. He was India’s highest impact batsman in the 2011 World Cup and had phenomenal returns from the 1996 and 2003 editions.