IND vs BAN: Kohli to chase Tendulkar’s ‘Virat’ record in the Test series against Bangladesh
New Delhi| All eyes will be on Virat Kohli when the Indian cricket team takes to the Test series against Bangladesh starting from 19th September. Kohli has already retired from T20 Internationals and that means fans will now only get to see him in two formats – Test and ODI. Comparisons have often been drawn between Virat Kohli, 35, and the legendary Sachin Tendulkar. However, Kohli has always said that this comparison is not correct and Sachin cannot be compared with anyone. Sachin bowed before Sachin after scoring his 50th century of ODI career during ODI World Cup 2023. Kohli has 80 international centuries to his credit and is second only to Tendulkar (100) in terms of centuries. However, Sachin will have a big record as Virat’s target in the Test series against Bangladesh.
Virat Kohli needs 58 runs to complete 27 thousand runs in international cricket. Tendulkar is the fastest player to reach 27 thousand runs in international cricket. He had done so in 623 innings (226 Test innings, 396 ODI innings, 1 T20 innings). Kohli had so far scored 26,942 runs in 591 innings across all formats combined. If Kohli scores another 58 runs in his next eight innings, he will overtake Sachin and become the fastest batsman to complete 27 thousand in international cricket. There seems to be a lot of possibility of this also. Virat has a chance to become the first cricketer in the 147-year history of international cricket to reach 27 thousand runs in less than 600 innings.
So far, apart from Tendulkar, Australia’s Ricky Ponting and Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara have more than 27 thousand runs registered in international cricket. Meanwhile there is a possibility that the Afro-Asia Cup may be held again. If there is interest among fans regarding the tournament and ICC agrees to it, then the tournament will be organized again. In such a situation, fans will be able to see Virat Kohli bowling with Babar Azam or Shaheen Afridi bowling with Jasprit Bumrah in the middle order. According to a Forbes report, possibilities of resuming the Afro-Asia Cup are being explored.
