Sachin Tendulkar's 100th century was being celebrated in Antilia, the house of the country's biggest industrialist Mukesh Ambani. Bollywood actor Salman Khan, who spoke in praise of Sachin, said that Sachin's records are not only difficult but impossible. The answer given by Sachin Tendulkar on this is today's reality. Sachin had said that Virat and Rohit are among those who can break his record. By that time, Virat Kohli had played 82 ODI matches and had 11 centuries to his name. However, after that Virat Kohli did something which changed not only him but Indian cricket completely. Virat Kohli has the most number of centuries in ODI cricket today.
Indian cricketer Virat Kohli is celebrating his 38th birthday today i.e. on 5th November. Virat made his debut in 2008 at the age of 19. In his 18 years of international career, Virat Kohli has traveled from 'Chiku' to 'King'. Since childhood, Virat Kohli considered Sachin Tendulkar, known as the God of Cricket, as his idol. It will be interesting to know who has the better record between 38 year old Virat and 38 year old Sachin.
Sachin's records at the age of 38
Sachin Tendulkar made his debut in international cricket in 1989 at the age of 16. By the age of 38, the Master Blaster had played 631 matches in all three formats. During this period, 32,813 runs were scored from his bat. This included 14,692 runs in Test cricket and 18,111 runs in ODI. He also scored 10 runs in a T20 International match. At that time, Sachin had 51 centuries in Test cricket and 48 centuries in ODI, that is, his total number of international centuries was 99. He was just one century away from the record of 100 international centuries at that time.
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When Sachin retired, he had 34,357 runs in international cricket. Sachin had a total of 100 centuries in his name. Sachin scored the 100th century of his career against Bangladesh in Mirpur.
Virat's records at the age of 38
Virat Kohli entered international cricket in 2008. By the time he turned 38, he had played 566 international matches. He has scored a total of 28,601 runs in these matches. He has 86 international centuries to his name. Virat, who has retired from Test, has scored a total of 9,230 runs in this format. He has 30 centuries to his name in this format. At the same time, in ODI he has scored 15,183 runs and scored 55 centuries. Virat has 4,188 runs and one century to his name in T20 International.
A day before his 38th birthday, Virat had played an inning of 74 runs in the first ODI against New Zealand played in Auckland. With this inning his number of ODI runs increased to 15,183.
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Sachin is ahead in runs and Virat is ahead in centuries.
If we compare the figures of Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli at the age of 38, Sachin is ahead in terms of total runs. Sachin had scored 32,813 runs whereas Virat has 28,601 runs in his name, which means Virat will have to score 4,212 more runs to reach this figure of Sachin.
Talking about centuries, Sachin had 99 international centuries to his name while Virat has scored 86 centuries. In this matter also, Virat is 13 centuries behind Sachin. However, Virat Kohli has overtaken Sachin Tendulkar in ODI cricket. Sachin had scored 49 ODI centuries in his career, while Virat now has 55 ODI centuries to his name. That means Virat has scored 6 ODI centuries more than Sachin.
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'Sachin Paaji will remain Sachin Paaji'
During the ODI series between India and West Indies, Virat had scored a century in the very first match. This was the 55th century of his career. In the interview that followed, Virat responded to the comparison with Sachin. Virat said, 'For me, Sachin paaji will always be Sachin paaji. He changed cricket during his time. For me, this is much more than statistics and comparisons. The impact he has left on people can never be forgotten.