Virat Kohli hit a magnificent unbeaten 166 from 113 balls in the 3rd India vs Sri Lanka ODI match at Thiruvananthapuram. With his 46th ODI century, Kohli has now gone past the legendary Sachin Tendulkar in the number of ODI centuries at home. Sachin has 20 ODI centuries at home against his name and Kohli has now 21 against his. Kohli is also the fastest Indian to score 20 ODI tons in 102 games, eclipsing the legendary Tendulkar, who notched up his centuries in 164 games.
En route to his 46th and overall 74th international century, Kohli now also holds the record of scoring the most ODI centuries against one team. He now holds this record against Sri Lanka, an opponent against whom he has 10 ODI centuries. Tendulkar has 9 ODI centuries to his name against Australia.
The only records of the great Sachin Tendulkar Kohli is yet to breach are his total ODI centuries and overall centuries in international cricket. Sachin has 49 ODI and 100 international centuries. Kohli is swiftly closing on the gap. He has 46 ODI and 74 international centuries to his name.
Once Sachin was asked in an interview if there is a possibility of any cricketer eclipsing his record of 100 international centuries. To this, Tendulkar replied, “I don’t mind if any Indian breaks this record. I look around this room and I see two youngsters who can do this – Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma”. Well, if the “God of Cricket” took Kohli’s name, who else can stop now?