How Kohli vs Tendulkar battle looks like after 33 ODI tons apiece

Indian captain Virat Kohli hit yet another one day international (ODI) hundred against South Africa at Kingsmead, Durban, on Wednesday, February 1, to put his team 1-0 ahead in the six-match bilateral series. It was Kohli’s 33rd ton in the 50-over format, the second highest only to compatriot Sachin Tendulkar who has 49 centuries to his credit in the same format. Kohli, however, has a higher frequency of hundreds compared to Tendulkar at the moment and is very likely to topple him from the top slot if he gets an injury-free run in the remaining part of his career.

Now, let’s get into a detailed comparative analysis of the batting careers of Kohli and Tendulkar till the day the former hit his 33rd ODI ton.

Kohli took three years less than Tendulkar in scoring his 33rd ODI hundred

In terms of years, Kohli took less than 10 years to reach the milestone (he had made his debut against Sri Lanka in August 2008) while Tendulkar had taken more than 12 years to do the same. Tendulkar’s 33rd ODI hundred had come against Sri Lanka in the NatWest Series in Bristol in England when he had scored 113 off 102 balls, batting at No. 4. Kohli’s equivalent ton also came in an away series and he scored 112 off 119 deliveries at No. 3. On both occasions, India won although Tendulkar’s innings had come batting earlier. Both were 29 when they bagged their 33rd ODI hundred.

Tendulkar also had 29 Test hundreds when he scored his 33rd ODI hundred

However, Tendulkar also had 29 Test hundreds at the time of scoring his 33rd ODI hundred. Kohli’s total centuries in Tests at the moment are 21. So overall, Kohli’s 33rd ODI hundred took his tally of international hundreds to 54. Tendulkar, in the same period, had his tally at 62.

Kohli has reached the milestone playing almost 100 innings less

In terms of matches and innings, too, Kohli has a lead over Tendulkar when it comes to the hundred-scoring spree. The current player has slammed his 33rd ODI ton in his 203rd match and 195th innings, while Tendulkar’s corresponding innings was 286th while the match was his 295th. Tendulkar’s total ODI runs at the end of his 33rd hundred were 11,491 while Kohli now has 9,142 runs in the 50-over format. In terms of average, Kohli now stands at 56.08 while his predecessor was at 40.17.

Club 33: Kohli and Tendulkar’s opponents

In terms of opponents, Kohli’s 33rd century registered the fact that he has a three-figure score registered against his name in nine Test-playing nations. Tendulkar also has the feat of scoring ODI hundreds in nine Test-playing nations as he missed out a ton in the West Indies where his highest score in the 50-over version is 96 not out scored in 1997.

Virat Kohli, however, scored his first ODI ton in South Africa in the first match as the captain of the side. Tendulkar had also scored a hundred in South Africa as the skipper in the 1997 tri-series but it was against Zimbabwe at Benoni (104 not out).

Virat Kohli vs Sachin Tendulkar: Home and away ODI 100s

Twenty of Tendulkar’s 33 ODI hundreds were scored away and eight of them were outside Asia. In case of Kohli, 19 of his 33 centuries have been scored in away games while 10 of them came outside Asia. Both have scored their maximum number of 100s till this point against Sri Lanka – Kohli (8) and Tendulkar (7).

Kohli a far better chaser

Another interesting aspect of the Kohli versus Tendulkar battle is between run-setting and run-chasing. Kohli’s 112 against South Africa was his 20th batting second and the 18th successful one. Tendulkar had scored 13 of his 33 hundreds batting second and India had won on 12 of those occasions. Kohli has a much better performance batting second but we also need to keep in mind the pressure and challenges that Tendulkar had to bear during his time.

Kohli leads Tendulkar in other comparisons as well

Other comparative figures at this juncture include: number of half-centuries and Tendulkar had 56 against Kohli’s 45 which suggests that the latter has a better conversion rate. Kohli also leads Tendulkar in terms of strike rate (91.75 as against 86.56) though Tendulkar had a better highest score at this point of his career (186 not out) as against Kohli’s (183). Tendulkar had 45 ‘Man of the Match’ and 9 man of the series awards when he became the owner of 33 ODI centuries while the corresponding figures for Kohli are 26 and 5. But having said that, Tendulkar had played almost 300 games for his 33 hundreds while for Kohli, it’s just above 200.