Mohammad Azharuddin backs Virat Kohli to break Sachin Tendulkar's 100-Ton record

Former India skipper Mohammad Azharuddin has backed Virat Kohli to break Sachin Tendulkar‘s record of 100 international centuries. Azharuddin’s comments came after Kohli scored a stunning ton to help India beat Australia in the second ODI. The India skipper slammed 104 off 112 balls as India beat Australia by 6 wickets to level the three-match series.

Kohli walked into bat after India lost Shikhar Dhawan with 47 runs on the scoreboard in pursuit of 299. From thereon, the Adelaide crowd witnessed yet another masterclass from the man who is well on his way of creating his own legacy in the game. He shared 50-plus stands with Rohit Sharma, Ambati Rayudu and MS Dhoni to put India in the driver’s seat. Dhoni and Dinesh Karthik then shared an unbeaten partnership of 57 runs to take the visitors home.

The century was Kohli’s 39th ODI hundred, making him the 11th highest run-getter in the format. It was also his sixth ODI hundred against Australia. Only Sachin Tendulkar (9) and Rohit Sharma (7) have scored more ODI centuries against the reigning 50-over World Champions.

The 30-year-old has now scored a staggering 24 ODI hundreds while chasing. Overall he has overtaken Kumar Sangakkara to become third in the list for most international hundreds. In the list of most international tons, Kohli is behind Tendulkar (100) and Ricky Ponting (71). Kohli has so far scored 64 hundreds from 401 innings.

Impressed with his remarkable consistency, Azharuddin feels Kohli has got the potential to go past Tendulkar if he remains fit, “Virat Kohli’s consistency is very good. If he stays fit, he will reach the 100-century mark. He is way ahead of many great players as far as his consistency is concerned. He is a great player and India have hardly lost whenever he has scored a century,” Azharuddin told Sports Tak.

Azharuddin praises MS Dhoni

Azharuddin also had a word of praise for MS Dhoni. After facing criticism for his slow knock in the series-opener, the World Cup-winning skipper slammed an unbeaten fifty in Adelaide to take India home. He scored 55 off 54 deliveries as India won the thriller with four balls remaining.

“If you look at the trend whenever India’s top three score runs, we go on to win the match. Unfortunately, in the previous match we lost three early wickets, Rohit Sharma did score a century but we lost. But today, Virat Kohli batted extremely well and MS Dhoni too played well. Dhoni even got tired in the end but he kept his wicket intact. Dinesh Karthik also batted well. Overall, India’s performance was very good,” Azhar said.

“If you are out of practice and not playing domestic cricket, it becomes difficult to adjust to international cricket. I think that was reason Dhoni played slow innings in the first ODI but today he batted well. It was a match-winning knock,” he added.

The three-match series will now be decided in Melbourne on January 18.

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