3 areas in ODI cricket where Virat Kohli has already surpassed Sachin Tendulkar
If there is one comparison in the world of cricket that has been made a lot of times in recent years, it is the one between Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar.
Tendulkar had a stellar career that lasted almost a quarter of a century, and in the process the master batsman captured the imagination of the cricketing world. He took ODI cricket to new statistical stratospheres; the Master Blaster owns almost every major big ticket ODI batting record, including that for the most runs (18,426), most hundreds (49), most fifties (96) and most man-of-the-match awards (62).
When Tendulkar retired from ODI cricket in 2012, we thought his records would never be broken.
But sport has its own way of surprising us, and it throws up champions in every era. Kohli has now emerged as the next batting superstar of ODI cricket; he has plundered attacks all across the world, and is touted as the man who has a chance of going past Tendulkar’s records.
In this article, we shall look at three areas where Kohli has already surpassed Tendulkar in ODI cricket:
Note: This article purely analyses the two batsmen purely on the numbers that they generated.
#3 Away record
Playing away from home is always a challenging task for any batsman. He has to adjust to different playing conditions, and a variety of bowling attacks.
In Australia, a batsman has to adjust to the extra pace and bounce. In England, he has to adjust to the swinging and seaming conditions. And in the West Indies, he has to adjust to the slow and low pitches on offer.
Tendulkar played a colossal 292 innings away from home and scored 11450 runs at an average of 43.05, including 29 hundreds and 58 fifties. While his average in ODIs played in India is 48.11, it dips by more than 5 points away from home.
On the other hand, Kohli has played only 144 innings away from home, but has already scored 6927 runs, including 24 hundreds and 34 fifties. In fact, Kohli’s away average of 59.21 is more than 15 points higher than Tendulkar's.
Kohli has played 148 innings fewer than Tendulkar away from home, but is still just five centuries short of Tendulkar.
Record away from home
Tendulkar: Innings - 292; Runs - 11450; Average - 43.05; 100’s - 29; 50’s - 58
Kohli: Innings - 144; Runs - 6927; Average - 59.21; 100’s - 24; 50’s - 34