5 ODI records which will be difficult to break for Virat Kohli

2. Sachin Tendulkar’s 18,426 ODI runs

Sachin Tendulkar is one of those few batsmen who has maintained the same level of consistency throughout his career. When we split Sachin’s career into different phases, he had a slow start to his career. Between 1989 and 1993, he played 65 matches and scored 1679 runs at an average of 31. Till this point in his career, he never hit a single ODI century.

Then, he experienced one of his best phases between 1994 and 1999, he scored 6,892 runs at an average of 47.20 in 164 matches. He smashed 24 out his 49 ODI centuries in this period. Batsmen usually slow down once they’re past this purple patch in their career. Fortunately, though, Sachin had age on his side and was, therefore, able to maintain the consistency. Between 2000 and 2006, Sachin scored 5,966 runs at an average of 46 and registered only 16 centuries in this while.

Given his legendary status, he was able to stretch his career a long way and continued to play till 2012. The last six years of his career witnessed a significant slowdown. Even though the average was right up there at 48, he scored only 3889 runs in 89 matches and could only score 9 centuries. These numbers see a slight decline if only the last two years of his ODI career are considered. In 2011 and 2012, Sachin scored 828 runs at an average of 39.

Not the case with other legendary players

Many legendary players’ careers took a dip as they reached the twilight. Ricky Ponting, for instance, scored 2,591 runs at an average of 38 between 2009 and 2012 in 75 matches. Players like Sanath Jayasuriya, Jacques Kallis, Brian Lara, Rahul Dravid, Inzamam-ul-Haq struggled towards the end of their careers. Even though the numbers were there, they do not reveal the complete story. These cricketers turned out to be a burden for their teams and put additional pressure on the other players with the only exception being Kumar Sangakkara.

If fitness is the criteria for great performances, then MS Dhoni might have been in great touch at this point in his career. Slowing down with age is something that is inevitable and Kohli could be no different. Let us take an ideal scenario that he scores 1,000 runs in ODIs every year for the next five years.

That should take him to about 15,000 runs given that he remains injury free and at the top of his game. Even in the worst of cases, he should be easily able to get to 14,000 ODI runs in the next five years. But, he will still have to score about 3,500 runs more after he’s crossed 35. Even the great Tendulkar was able to score only 3889 runs in the last six years of his career. Hence, it wouldn’t be an easy task for Virat to surpass Sachin’s 18,426 ODI runs record.