Gundappa Viswanath believes Virat Kohli can go past Tendulkar’s 100 tons
Gundappa Viswanath has heaped praise on Virat Kohli stating that he has “every chance” of crossing Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 100 centuries. Applauding India’s wrist spinners, the former cricketer believes that R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja are still in contention to make a return to the squad.
After reigning supreme on the home turf last year, where Kohli scored seven centuries at an average of 60.85, the skipper has now proved his doubters wrong by remaining invincible in overseas conditions as well. On the South African tour so far, Kohli has scored 870 runs at an average of 87.00 including four centuries.
His unbeaten knock of 129 runs helped India wrap up the ODI series 5-1 in Centurion, making him the first batsman ever to score 500 runs in a bilateral ODI series. It was his 35th ODI ton and 56th overall, which he has brought up in only 330 games. Though Viswanath was initially hesitant in comparing him to Tendulkar, he eventually admitted that Kohli has “every chance” of attaining it.
"Kohli has shown consistency, performance and is getting hundreds regularly, he has got every chance to break that record, but it's a tall order," said Viswanath here on the sidelines of a U-14 invitational cricket tournament, reported PTI.
"Records are eventually meant to be broken. I am happy for that and I think even Sachin will be happy. But it is still a long way to go."
Apart from Kohli, the other players to have come under spotlight heavily are the wrist spinning duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal. The duo decimated the South African lineup during the ODI series claiming a joint total of 33 wickets in six games, knocking hard on the selectors’ door now for selection in the longest format of the game.
Their mercurial rise has already kept veteran spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja out of the limited-overs format for more than six months with their place in the 2019 World Cup also coming under immense threat. However, Viswanath has been of the opinion that the finger spinning duo can still make a comeback into the team as they haven’t disappointed whenever called upon and the contest remains fierce among them.
“There is very healthy competition because Ashwin has done tremendously well and Jadeja, too, in Test matches. So, you can't rule them out. But, at the same time, there is one spinner who has taken more than 30 wickets, which is brilliant," added Viswanath.