Sourav Ganguly rates Virat Kohli at par with Tendulkar in ODIs

Former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly feels that the current Indian skipper, Virat Kohli, is at par with legendary former Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar when it comes to ODI cricket. Kohli recently went past Ricky Ponting’s tally of 30 ODI centuries to escalate to the second position in the list of most ODI century makers. He now has 31 centuries to his name, and is only behind Sachin Tendulkar.

Tendulkar, who retired with 100 international centuries, has 49 ODI tons to his name. With Kohli racking up tons at will, the record seems breakable. Sourav Ganguly looked mighty pleased with the knock Kohli played against New Zealand at Mumbai in a losing cause. As per the quotes in India Today, Ganguly congratulated Kohli on his special knock and achievement.

When asked if the record of most ODI centuries in breakable, Sourav Ganguly responded in affirmation. He, however, maintained that it is a long way away for now and the fans must wait for it to happen. Scoring 19 more tons will definitely need some hard work to be done.

“It is possible and you cannot rule that out. We will have to wait and see but 19 hundreds (Virat needs to break Sachin’s record) is a long way and people do not get 19 hundreds in their career. But I think we should forget about hundreds, forget about whether he gets to Tendulkar or not because probably he is as good as Tendulkar when it comes to ODI cricket,” quoted Sourav Ganguly.

“He is a fantastic batsman, he will continue to score runs and keep winning a lot of matches for India. He is in his late 20’s now (Virat turns 29 on 5th Nov) and is going to get older and will be in his mid thirties in a few years. He is a very fit cricketer so I do not think age will be a factor for him,” Ganguly added.

On the Mumbai knock

Speaking specifically about the knock Kohli played in the Mumbai ODI, Sourav Ganguly hailed it as a very matured one. He mentioned that Kohli mastered his knock to perfection. He did not go out and out with all guns blazing and timed his knock to perfection. Kohli scored 121 off 125 deliveries at a strike rate lower than 100 – something very unusual on his part in the limited overs cricket.

“It was a fantastic knock, he played very well and paced his innings really well as it wasn’t easy (conditions) in Mumbai. I think he has got to get the middle order right to get the pressure off him a little bit. He played differently and that is what every young cricketer should learn from him (Virat). When they watch him play in Kolkata at the Eden Gardens and then in Mumbai, both were difficult surfaces and he played differently. He paced his innings a lot better and was superb. He is at 31 hundreds and Sachin is at 49, so there is still a long way to go but I think he was fantastic,” conceded the former Indian captain.