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Virat Kohli vs Sachin Tendulkar: Records already broken, records that may never be touched
Kohli has eclipsed several of Tendulkar's benchmarks, in ODIs, but the most significant records in overall runs and longevity still firmly belong to Tendulkar.
Virat Kohli’s 135 in Ranchi wasn’t just about dragging India out of trouble against South Africa. It quietly tilted the balance of cricket’s greatest statistical rivalry a little further in his favour. With that knock, Kohli moved to 52 ODI centuries and 83 international hundreds overall, tightening his grip on several records that once seemed permanently etched under Sachin Tendulkar’s name.
Yet even after Ranchi, Tendulkar still sits atop a mountain range of numbers that no one, not even Kohli, is close to fully conquering. The story now is less “Kohli vs Sachin” and more “which Tendulkar peaks are actually under threat, and which are locked away for good?”
Kohli’s takeover zone
Kohli has already ripped up a bunch of Tendulkar benchmarks, especially in ODIs.
The biggest is obvious: most ODI centuries. Sachin’s 49 was once treated like a ceiling; Kohli is not at 52, also giving him the most hundreds in a single international format, surpassing Tendulkar’s 51 in Tests.
He has also parked himself ahead of Tendulkar in the pressure lanes. Kohli holds the record for most ODI hundreds in successful chases, most runs and most 50+ scores in successful ODI chases, and has now pushed ahead for 50+ scores in ODIs at home as well.
Then come the speed records. From 8,000 all the way to 14,000 ODI runs, Kohli has been the fastest ever to each milestone, beating the tempo set by Tendulkar’s generation. Add his 2023 World Cup, where he smashed 765 runs to go past Tendulkar’s 2003 tally of 673, and there is already a full chapter of “Sachin records Kohli has broken” that doesn’t need any future knock to be legitimised.
Also Read: Sunil Gavaskar declares Virat Kohli the GOAT of ODIs: ‘Sachin Tendulkar has been right up there but when you pass him…’
The mountains that still belong to Sachin
Flip the page, and the picture changes. On the big, career-spanning aggregates, Sachin Tendulkar still rules by distance.
He remains cricket’s leading run-scorer with 34, 357 international runs, far ahead of Kohli in the 27K bracket. His 15,921 Test runs and 18,426 ODI runs are safe for now; Joe Root is closest in Tests, Kohli in ODIs. While Root may break the Test record, the ODI record might stand for sometime now.
Then there are the endurance and impact stats. 463 ODIs, 664 internationals, 2,278 World Cup runs, 62 ODI Man-of-the-Match awards and 76 MOM across formats - all still Tendulkar. Virat Kohli is the active challenger in the awards race and could yet overhaul the all-format MoM and Player-of-the-series numbers if heeps churning out performances like the one he did in Ranchi.
That’s the real nuance post Ranchi. Kohli has already taken over a cluster of Sachin’s records in ODIs, chases and milestones, and will probably nibble away a few more. But the truly giant monuments - total runs, overall hundreds, Test volume, World Cup career aggregate and sheer longevity - still have Tendulkar’s name carved in stone with only Kohli and Root realistically in the foothills.
