Virat Kohli leads Sachin Tendulkar after 50 Tests & 175 ODIs; but he still has a mountain to climb

There was a time when after each of his innings, Sachin Tendulkar was compared with the great Sunil Gavaskar. The race was more intense in the Tests since Gavaskar was seen then as the pinnacle of success for India in the longest format of the game. When Tendulkar finally called it a day in November 2013, he had not only eclipsed Gavaskar in terms of the numbers but also set up a new challenge for the succeeding generation of batsmen.

It was thought that Mount Tendulkar would be too difficult to scale. Over 34,000 runs in international and a ton of hundreds looked too much of a record to break. But three years since the ace cricketer exited the 22 yards, another right-handed batsman in the name of Virat Kohli has started giving the impression that even Mt. Tendulkar is scalable, thanks to his consistent and prolific scoring against all oppositions.

Kohli played his 50th Test against England at Vishakhapatnam which India won by 246 runs. That is an important milestone to compare his progress with the great Tendulkar in Tests.

Tendulkar’s numbers in his first 50 Tests (1989-1997)

Tendulkar had played his first 50 Tests between November 1989 when he made his debut against Pakistan in an away series and March 1997 when India took on the West Indies in their den. In this time, Tendulkar scored 3,438 runs in 85 innings (eight of them unbeaten) at an average of 49.82. He scored 11 centuries and 16 half-centuries during this time with the highest score of 179 against the West Indies at Nagpur in 1994.

Of the 11 tons that Tendulkar slammed during this period, eight were on the foreign soil and seven outside Asia (three in England and two each in Australia and South Africa). He also scored one century in Sri Lanka. The maestro was less noticeable in his first two series against Pakistan and New Zealand but then it was just the initial days of a long, long journey.

Kohli’s numbers in his first 50 Tests (2011-2016*)

Kohli, on the other hand, played his first Test against the West Indies in Kingston in June 2011 and took much less time than Tendulkar to play his 50th game in November 2016 (it’s less than six years compared to over seven years taken by Tendulkar). He has scored 3,891 runs in this phase in 86 innings (five not-outs) at an average of 48.03. He has scored 14 hundreds and13 fifties during this time with the highest score of 211 made against New Zealand at Indore on October this year.

Kohli has slammed nine of his 14 hundreds so far in away games and eight outside Asia (five against Australia and one each against New Zealand, South Africa and the West Indies). Kohli’s only Test century on foreign soil in Asia has also come against the Sri Lankans. The series in which Kohli was a real disappointment was the away series in England in 2014 where his highest score was just 39. India were blown away 0-4 in that series

Tendulkar played his 50th game before turning 24; Kohli did it at 28

Tendulkar ended his Test career amassing 15,921 runs in 200 matches at an average of 53.78. Kohli looks the best Indian to scale though numbers. He has done exceedingly well till now but will have to score consistently well till the day he winds up. One significant aspect of this comparison is that while Tendulkar played his 50th Test before turning 24, Kohli was 28 when he played the same number of games. The four-year difference could be significant in the final evaluation.

Both Tendulkar and Kohli played their 50th Tests as captains

One interesting fact is that both Tendulkar and Kohli have played their respective 50th Test matches as the skipper of their side. However, Kohli has seen a happier captaincy tenure than his champion predecessor. While he has hit two double tons as a captain and India have won both the games (versus the West Indies and New Zealand), Tendulkar’s only double hundred as the captain had come against New Zealand in 1999 during his second stint as the captain but it couldn’t earn his team a win, thanks to an insipid bowling attack.

Kohli’s captaincy far impressive than Tendulkar’s

Overall, Kohli’s record as Test captain is far brighter than Tendulkar as he has led India to 12 wins in 20 games (the most successful in terms of percentage) while lost just two. He has guided India to victory in five consecutive Test series after taking over as the full-fledged captain in 2015 while Tendulkar as a skipper brought India just two series victories and a win in a one-off Test.

Both Tendulkar & Kohli have done worse than Gavaskar in first 50 Tests

However, both Tendulkar and Kohli are over a thousand runs behind Sunil Gavaskar after their first 50 Tests. The original Little Master had scored 4,947 runs at this juncture of his career with 20 centuries and 21 half-centuries at an average of 57.52 (highest score of 221).

After 175 ODIs: Tendulkar vs Kohli

In one-day internationals (ODIs), too, the comparison between the two ace batsmen proves to be an intense one. Kohli, who is yet to captain India in the ODIs, has just played his 175th game (176 at the moment) since his debut in 2008 and in these eight years, he has scored 7,570 runs (till the 175th game) in 167 innings (unbeaten in 25) at an average of 52.85.

He has hit 26 hundreds and 37 fifties in this time with the highest being 183 against Pakistan in Asia Cup at Dhaka in 2012. It also proved to be the final ODI of Tendulkar with whom Kohli had set up a 133-run partnership to successfully chase down the arch-rivals’ imposing 329 runs in 50 overs.

Tendulkar behind Kohli after 175 ODI matches

Tendulkar, who finished with record 463 ODI matches after scoring his first run in his third game against the Kiwis, was behind Kohli after 175 games with 5,955 runs. Tendulkar played his 175th game in 1998, nine years after making his debut, and it was also against Pakistan in Dhaka. He played 169 innings at that juncture (16 not outs) and averaged 38.92. He had scored only 12 centuries at the time (since his first came in the 79th innings as against the 14th innings in case of Kohli) and 38 half centuries. But the year 1998 proved to be a massive year for Tendulkar as he went on to slam nine hundreds to take his tally from 12 to 21 in just 12 months.

Tendulkar’s highest score after his 175th game was 137 which he had scored against the eventual champions Sri Lanka at Delhi in the 1996 World Cup but couldn’t end up on the winning side.

While Kohli’s 183 came in his 85^th innings, Tendulkar’s first 150-plus innings came in his 226th innings when he hit an unbeaten 186 against New Zealand at Hyderabad in 1999. Tendulkar was the captain of India when he scored this ton off just 150 balls. Kohli also leads Tendulkar in terms of over-boundaries (75 against 57) and boundaries (701 against 597) after 175 games. Tendulkar, however, had two ducks less than Kohli at that point of time of his career (eight against 10).

Kohli also does better than Sourav Ganguly, India’s second-highest run-aggregator in ODIs (11,363 runs) and also an excellent skipper, after 175 games. Ganguly, who made his ODI debut in 1992 but lost four years in between to come back in 1996, scored 6,844 runs after 175 matches (170 innings, 14 not outs) at an average of 43.87 with 17 hundreds and 40 half-centuries.