India captain Virat Kohli, who hammered his second straight century as India swept the one-day international series 5-0 after beating Sri Lanka by six wickets in the fifth and final match on Sunday, has equalled Australia's Ricky Ponting in the number of one-day centuries behind India great Sachin Tendulkar on 49. Kohli has made his 30 centuries in 181 matches fewer than Ponting. Kohli said it was an honour for him to equal Ponting's record.
The 28-year-old Delhi stalwart, however, felt that it will take "one hell of an effort" to reach anywhere near Tendulkar's world record.
"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 psot-match press conference when the inevitable question of Tendulkar's record cropped up.
"It's an honour for me to equal someone like Ricky Ponting. That's not something that you aim for but obviously he's a great player and as batsmen we all respect what these legends have done."
Kohli stressed he always looks to play for the team and that the records never matter for him.
"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.
(With PTI Inputs)
