Former India captain Virat Kohli has registered the second personal instance of scoring consecutive ODI centuries. In fact, Kohli has a golden opportunity of becoming only the second cricketer after Pakistan captain Babar Azam to score three consecutive centuries twice in ODI career.
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It was during a home series against West Indies over four years ago when Kohli had scored his 36th, 37th and 38th centuries in a row. Kohli, 34, has now scored his 44th and 45th centuries against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka respectively in consecutive ODIs. Co-incidentally, both the instances comprised Barsapara Cricket Stadium as a venue.
Kohli scoring 113 (87) including 12 fours and a six at a strike rate of 129.88 played a pivotal role in India putting on board 373/7 in 50 overs after being asked to bat first by Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanka in the first ODI in Guwahati on Tuesday.
Gambhir on Kohli after his 73rd century today
Calling these matches for host broadcaster Star Sports, former India batter Gautam Gambhir spoke against comparing Kohli with Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar citing a massive change in rules in all these years.
Kohli, who has 73 international centuries under his belt now, is bound to be compared to Tendulkar (only batter with 100 centuries across formats). Readers must note that Kohli is only four centuries behind equaling Tendulkar’s record of 49 ODI centuries.
“You can’t compare Virat [Kohli] with Sachin [Tendulkar]. In Sachin’s era, there weren’t five players inside the 30-yard circle,” Gambhir said during the mid-match analysis show on Star Sports.
Considering how powerplay rules have evolved over the years in ODIs, Gambhir surely has a point to make. Having said that, players across different generations shouldn’t be compared otherwise also due to multiple changes which happen in any sport over decades.
During the show, Gambhir also slammed the visitors for bowling poorly especially after winning the toss and opting to bowl first. While Kohli was fortunate to have received a couple of reprieves today, Gambhir also highlighted how Indian opening batters Rohit Sharma (83) and Shubman Gill (70) scored “easy runs” after not being challenged at all with the new ball.
