On Sunday, Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli scored his 46th century in One Day International (ODI) play during the third India-Sri Lanka ODI match in Thiruvananthapuram. This milestone prompted former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar to express his belief that Kohli has the potential to surpass the 100-century mark in international cricket.
Despite already having 74 international centuries under his belt, Kohli is currently three centuries behind Sachin Tendulkar's record of 49 ODI centuries. Gavaskar predicts that with five to six more years of play, Kohli could score an additional 26 centuries and reach the milestone of 100 centuries.
“In case he plays 5 or 6 years, he will get to the 100. There’s no doubt about it. His average is about 6-6 hundred a year. So if that happens, then surely he can add another 26 hundreds in the next 5-6 years if he plays till 40,” Gavaskar said while speaking with Aaj Tak.
MS Dhoni was as quick, if not quicker- Gavaskar
Virat Kohli has ended a 3 year wait for an international century when he scored against Afghanistan at the Asia Cup 2022. Since then he has been in immense form and is scoring centuries at an impressive rate. Gavaskar compared his fitness to that of Sachin and Mahendra Singh Dhoni saying if those two can do it then so can Kohli.
“Sachin Tendulkar also played till his 40s and he had kept his fitness. Kohli is very aware of his fitness. He is still the fastest runner between wickets in this Indian team. Only when MSD was there, you could say, MS Dhoni was as quick, if not quicker. Today, at this age, he beats the youngsters hands down. Converting 1s into 2s, and 2s into 3s, he is an absolute champion at that. And not just his runs, but for his partners as well. So with that kind of fitness, for him to play till 40 would not be a surprise at all,” Gavaskar added.