Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar
There has been a large shift in the never-ending debate on who is the better batsman in Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar. In addition to the debate, there now lies the question of whether Kohli can break Sachin's record of 100 international centuries. And former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen on Friday opined on the question.
Kohli has so far scored 43 centuries in the ODI format that puts him only six behind Sachin's tally of 49, but in Test cricket, the Indian skipper still stands considerably behind with his 27 centuries in comparison to the legend's 51. Summing up, Kohli is still 30 centuries behind that record tally.
Pietersen, in conversation with Timesnownews.com, reckoned that the chances of Kohli beaking the record depending on how he continues to choose between formats in the forthcoming years given that he plays all the three formats of the game.
"It’s difficult because of injury, the longevity of Tendulkar’s career. Tendulkar wasn’t as emotional when he was in the field and he did not carry the same sort of aggressive attitude on the field. He was a lot more relaxed. It depends on how long Virat Kohli continues to play. Remember, Kohli plays all three forms of the game, plus he plays the IPL. For the majority of Sachin Tendulkar’s career, there was no T20 cricket and there was no IPL. So it all depends on how long Kohli plays for," he said.
Besides his 200 Test appearances and 463 in ODIs, Sachin played only one T20I match. Moreover, the latter format had come towards the end of Sachin's career. Meanwhile, Kohli has played 86 Tests, 248 ODIs and 82 T20Is for India, all simultaneously while also handling the pressure of Indian Premier League.
