Former India opening batter Aakash Chopra has made a bold prediction about Virat Kohli, saying the legendary batter will end his international cricket career with 98 hundreds. He was asked how many centuries Kohli would amass by the end of his career, and he said 98.
The 37-year-old has 86 international centuries to his name and needs 15 more to break Sachin Tendulkar’s world record.
In 664 international matches, Tendulkar accumulated 100 tons from 1989 to 2013. He scored 51 centuries in 200 Test matches and 49 in 463 ODIs.
On the other hand, Kohli has 55 centuries in the fifty-over format, 30 in red-ball cricket, and 1 in T20Is. In the ongoing series against the West Indies, Virat scored an unbeaten 139 in the first game. He hit 10 fours and 9 sixes in his match-winning knock.
Most 100s in international cricket
Sachin Tendulkar – 100 in 666 matches
Virat Kohli – 86 in 564 matches
Ricky Ponting – 71 in 560 matches
Kumar Sangakkara – 63 in 594 matches
Jacques Kallis – 62 in 519 matches
Joe Root – 61 in 396 matches
Chopra was also asked to name Team India’s best white-ball pacer apart from Jasprit Bumrah, and he took Arshdeep Singh’s name.
Arshdeep is India’s leading wicket-taker in T20Is, with 140 wickets in 94 games, but he has been a part of just 18 ODIs since playing his first contest against New Zealand in November 2022.
There is no guarantee he will be picked for the 2027 ODI World Cup in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia.
Aakash was the biggest concern, and he mentioned Hardik Pandya’s fitness. “What happens if Hardik is unfit?”
Hardik is one of the key players in white-ball teams, but he has been out of action since representing the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League 2026. His last international match was against New Zealand in the final of the 2026 Men’s T20 World Cup at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Hardik was recently included in the India A squad for three ODIs against Australia A, but he was ruled out at the last moment due to injury. It is not certain that he will travel with the Indian National Cricket Team for the white-ball matches in New Zealand. India will play five T20Is and five ODIs against the Kiwis. He is likely to return to competitive cricket in November with the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy for Baroda.