New Delhi. The name of Virat Kohli is included among those batsmen of one day cricket who have dominated the bowlers around the world with their bat for a long time. While there is usually a decline in the performance of players with increasing age, Virat Kohli's figures tell a different story. Even at the age of 37, Virat's hunger for runs does not seem to be decreasing. In fact, his statistics in ODI cricket after the age of 35 show that even during this period, he has been successful in playing big innings continuously.
After the age of 35, Virat Kohli has played 27 innings in ODIs and during this he has scored 1555 runs. He has scored these runs at an excellent average of 70.68 and strike rate of 100.51. During this period, Virat has scored seven centuries and nine half-centuries. That is, in a small figure of 27 innings, he has achieved the feat of scoring 50 or more runs 16 times. This figure shows that Virat's consistency is still intact in ODI cricket.
Virat Kohli scored the 55th century of his ODI career in the match against West Indies on 27 September. During this innings, he also completed 15000 runs in ODI cricket and left Sachin Tendulkar behind in reaching this feat. Virat took 287 innings to reach 15000 ODI runs whereas Sachin Tendulkar took 361 innings to reach this milestone. In this way, Virat achieved this figure by playing 74 less innings.
Virat now has 55 centuries to his name in ODI cricket and this number in itself shows the consistency of his batting. However, Sachin Tendulkar has 18426 runs in his ODI career and Virat is still far behind in this matter. Due to the number of matches and schedule in ODI cricket being less than before, it is not easy to make a direct comparison of the career statistics of both the players.
Virat and Sachin have often been compared in cricket but on the basis of statistics alone it is difficult to decide who is better among the two. Both the batsmen played in different eras and the cricketing conditions they faced were also different. Sachin faced bowlers of many generations in his long career, while Virat has made his own identity in modern era cricket.
At present, Virat Kohli's focus is on scoring further runs and contributing in big matches for Indian cricket. Seven ODI centuries and 1555 runs after the age of 35 definitely show that there is consistency in his batting along with experience. Now the focus will be on how much Virat increases his figures in the coming matches.