Australia v India ODIs: Virat Kohli closing in fast on incredible marks set by Sachin Tendulkar

Virat Kohli is on track to shatter the seemingly unreachable ODI marks set by Sachin Tendulkar. But will that make him the greatest player of all time. VOTE NOW!

A nightmare 2020 put a dent in his chase, but Virat Kohli remains a chance to erase Indian giant Sachin Tendulkar from the history books — with two more World Cup titles and every one-day international batting record in his sights.

Kohli is in Australia for a good time, not a long time. But it will be enough to give fans another close-up look at the man who could finish his career as the greatest one-day batsman of all time.

Despite a COVID-affected 12 months taking a massive bite out of Kohli’s incredible stretch of monster run-scoring seasons, the talismanic Indian skipper remains on track to shatter the seemingly unreachable marks set by the iconic Tendulkar.

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Sachin Tendulkar set a high bar but Virat Kohli has not been daunted.

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All the focus of Kohli’s mid-series exit to return home for the birth of his child has centred around his unavailability for the bulk of the Test series – understandably so, given India’s determination to back up their historic triumph two summers ago.

But it allows the undisputed No.1 ODI batsman in the world, who knows he’s only got a handful of games to leave his mark on this summer, to unleash on the three-match ODI series starting at the SCG on Friday.

“He hasn’t got to leave any fuel in the tank does he? He can go his hardest,” Australian white-ball star, and Fox Sports commentator, Andrew Symonds tells News Corp.

Choosing a standalone ODI GOAT in the same way that Sir Donald Bradman so comfortably sits on the Test cricket throne with his incomparable average of 99.94, isn’t as easy.

But former Australia paceman Brendon Julian believes that, like West Indian masterblaster Vic Richards and Tendulkar, Kohli will be the greatest of his generation – and that alone puts him in the argument for greatest of all-time status.

“He’s been the best one-day cricketer of the past 10 years, a standout performer and taken the title of the world’s No.1 ODI batsman for a long, long time, and for a very good reason,” Julian explained.

“Certainly in numbers, in terms of hundreds, he could go down as one of the greatest.

“All-time? Certainly he’d be up there, there’s no doubt about it. He could certainly carry the mantle, but whether he’d be the greatest of all-time is too hard a question to answer.

“I look at Viv Richards as someone who changed the game in one-day cricket, but his numbers might not up there with Virat by the end. Sachin was a wonderful one-day player as well. Jacques Kallis, Ricky Ponting are two more who deserve to be in the argument.”

A veteran of a mighty 463 ODIs across 23 years, Tendulkar is the current consensus ODI king – his 18,426 runs dwarfing second-placed Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka, who has 14,234.

But rising quickly is Kohli, the man always in a rush to the finish line. At 32, Kohli sits on 11,867 – some 6,559 runs behind his decorated countryman.

Viv Richards had a huge impact on the evolution of the ODI.

But Kohli is a man on a mission. With 43 ODI centuries to his name, it’s a matter of ‘when’ not ‘if’ the 32-year-old will overtake Tendulkar’s record of 49 and become the first player to crack a half-ton of centuries in the 50-over game.

“There’s no doubt he’ll pass Sachin (for most centuries) – he’ll go past Sachin and maybe get close to 60 one-day hundreds,” Julian said.

“I don’t know if he’ll go past Sachin in terms of bulk of runs, it depends on how long he wants to play and how long his body handles it. But he’s supremely fit. He works out a lot on his body, his mental fitness is very, very good as well.”

Kohli’s average of 59.33 looks almost Bradman-esque alongside Tendulkar’s 44.83, or Ricky Ponting’s 42.08 from an Australian-best 13,704 runs.

Barring an avalanche of record-breaking feats this summer, 2020 will break a three-season streak of 1200-run calendar years for Kohli – who has just 258 runs from six innings this year after plundering 1377, 1202 and 1460 in the years prior.

Sachin Tendulkar was an incredible ODI player.

Julian believes Kohli, who helped steer India to the 2011 World Cup triumph, will use the lure of more World Cup glory to motivate him in his push to claim – perhaps even extending his career to reach the 2027 tournament, by which point he will be 38 years old.

Tendulkar played his last match of international cricket at age 40.

“I think what drives Virat is World Cup wins – he hasn’t won a World Cup as captain,” Julian said.

“Not getting to the final in England would’ve been something he would’ve been really disappointed about.

“As a great batsman you want to win a World Cup as the captain and that would drive him as well.

“He’d love to win two World Cups – I think he’s got 2023, and could he get past that and go to another one? I don’t know. That would be something which could drive him in one-day cricket.

“If he can pick up one more, maybe two more, World Cups I think that’s something he’d be looking at.”

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