Sunil Gavaskar tips Virat Kohli to break all batting records if he plays as long as Sachin Tendulkar

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has tipped Virat Kohli to break all batting records if he maintains his run-scoring spree for several more years. The current Indian skipper has become the country’s latest batting sensation, drawing parallels with the great Sachin Tendulkar as well. Kohli has been in spectacular form with the bat, and Gavaskar believes that if he continues playing the way he is right now and maintains his excellent standard of fitness, all batting records will be under his name.

The 29-year-old recently stormed into an elite club of batsmen who’ve scored more than 10,000 runs in ODI cricket. But Kohli was a notch ahead of the others, as he achieved the five-figure mark in just 205 innings, the next fastest being Sachin Tendulkar who got there in 259 innings. Remarkably, he went from 9,000 ODI runs to 10,000 ODI runs in a mere 11 innings. He followed it up by becoming the first ever Indian cricketer to score three consecutive hundreds, a record he brought up during the recently-concluded ODI series against the Windies.

Kohli’s fitness is excellent: Gavaskar

Gavaskar hence believes that all batting records are in danger with the way Virat is scoring runs and flying past milestones. Speaking to Aaj Tak, the legendary batsman said, “No record is safe the way Virat Kohli is batting, all batting records can be broken — most runs, most centuries, all these records can go to Virat Kohli because his fitness is also excellent. When a player is that fit, he can play not only for 5-7 years but 10 more years. Like Sachin played till the age of 40, if Kohli also plays till that age, I feel Test records, one-day records, all cricket records will go under the name of Virat.”

However, the skipper has also been sustaining injuries and has taken time off from cricket on several occasions, especially when India have had relatively easier assignments. Kohli is set to miss the upcoming T20I series against the Windies as well, where Rohit Sharma will take up captaincy duties in his absence. Gavaskar therefore felt that India will surely miss Kohli during the T20Is, but was also of the opinion that this would push the team to raise their game as they did during the Asia Cup in September.

“India will surely miss Virat Kohli but they showed in Asia Cup that when Kohli is not there, they raise their game and even there, India had got a fabulous victory. So that is what will happen in this T20I series also,” Gavaskar said.

The first T20I gets underway at Kolkata’s iconic Eden Gardens on Sunday, November 4.

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