How does Virat Kohli stack up against Sachin Tendulkar on their respective 31st birthday’s? A statistical comparison between the two masters.
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Sachin Tendulkar is without a doubt, the best batsman to have played for India. The master blaster is also arguably the greatest player to have lifted a bat bar the legendary Sir Donald Bradman. He was the bedrock of a team in disaster during the 90’s.
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He would eventually become an icon to his country and inspired millions to take the sport. After his retirement though, Virat Kohli has taken over from him. The Indian skipper is considered by many as the best batsman in the world right now and has on many occasions, like Sachin in the 90’s, played the rescue act for the team.
Sachin retired back in 2013 and many of his records still stand to this day. However, Virat Kohli is getting dangerously close to breaking a few of them, especially in the limited overs format where he has flourished like no one has ever before.
Tendulkar has the most Centuries in both the Test and ODI format and all international matches combined. While Kohli trails his 51 test centuries by some margin, he is on the master blaster’s heels in the One Day format with 43 Centuries to his 49.
Tendulkar also holds the record of 100 centuries and Kohli is the closest to match or beat him with 69 centuries to his name. At 31, Kohli still has a lot of years before he retires from the game. However, let us make a statistical comparison between the two on their respective birthdays.
How does Virat Kohli stack up against Sachin Tendulkar on their respective 31st birthday’s?
At 31, Sachin Tendulkar had already scored 22,604 runs in all International cricket and had registered 70 centuries to his name. Virat Kohli is so close to his own idol with 21,036 runs in his kitty. At 69 centuries, he is only one behind Tendulkar.
Most runs in international cricket at 31st Birthday
| Player | Team | Matches | Runs | 100S |
| Sachin | IND | 447 | 22604 | 70 |
| Kohli | IND | 393 | 21036 | 69 |
| Ponting | AUS | 338 | 16573 | 43 |
| Kallis | SA | 338 | 16143 | 37 |
| De Villiers | SA | 335 | 16097 | 40 |
Amazingly, while Tendulkar played 447 matches to achieve those numbers, Kohli did it in 54 less! No other player has scored 20,000 runs or 50 centuries by the time they were 31. Pointing and Kallis hover around the 16k mark and trail them by more than 25 centuries!
One Day cricket was arguably where Tendulkar dominated much like how Kohli does today and it shows in his numbers. By the time Tendulkar turned 31, he had 13,134 runs to his name with 37 centuries. Virat is almost 2k runs behind him with 11,520 runs. However, he has scored 6 more centuries than the master himself!
Most runs in international cricket at 31st Birthday
More interestingly, while Tendulkar had already played 333 ODI’s by the time he turned 31, Kohli has only played 239 times yet. Their dominance in the format shows when you look at the rest of the list and see that the next best tally of centuries is 22 and no other batsman had scored 10,000 runs yet.
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