Will Virat Kohli score the first ever ODI triple century in Harare?
The other day while I was watching the IPL 2016 group match between the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Kings XI Punjab, where Virat Kohli got to his fourth IPL ton of the season to lead his side to yet another victory, I heard a fan quip, “Are they making genetically modified cricketers nowadays!?” Such has been the awe-inspiring dominance of Kohli’s bat over the past five months or so.
Much has been written about his form and consistency and I am sure by now, the fans know all the relevant stats. What has also come to the fore is his extreme levels of fitness, so critical to ratchet up tall scores with consistency across conditions and against varied bowling attacks and match situations. Comparisons with the Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar were bound to happen, although Kohli himself has dismissed them as being ‘grossly unfair’.
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Tendulkar was in the twilight of his career when T20 cricket was just about finding its international bearings and he could never really play enough of it, although he still managed to get an IPL winner’s crown to his name. Therefore, to compare Kohli's run of form majorly in the T20 format to Tendulkar’s consistency across the Test and One-Day International (ODI) formats is not ideal.
However, if the comparison is about going where no batsman has ever gone before, there is one particular Tendulkar feat which Kohli would like to go one up on his self-confessed idol. The hallmark of a great player is to make the most of a rich vein of form and I believe Kohli, being the greatest of the modern era, will be no exception to this rule.
On 24th February 2010, Sachin Tendulkar became the first ever batsman in the world to score an ODI double hundred, against the South Africans in Gwalior. Subsequently, four other batsmen – including Indians Virender Sehwag and Rohit Sharma – have achieved the feat.
Rohit, in fact, has reached the milestone twice. His effort of 264 against a hapless Sri Lankan attack at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens a couple of years ago is the highest individual ODI innings till date.
If Kohli can hold on to his current form and fitness, then it looks possible that on India’s scheduled tour of Zimbabwe next month, where they are slated to play three ODIs, the first ODI triple ton ever to be scored will come off his bat. We could not have asked for a more beautiful set-up for that barrier to be breached.
Kohli's form and fitness have been already alluded to and appreciated; he seems to be scoring over 100 in 20 overs with ease. Combined with that will be a Zimbabwe team, probably at the lowest point of their journey in international cricket – both in terms of confidence and world rankings.
They are currently at the 11th spot in ODIs, with only Ireland below them and even relative rookies Afghanistan above them. In January this year, they actually lost an ODI series to Afghanistan 3-2, and the feat Kohli's for the taking.
What are the chances Kohli does not achieve this at the Harare Sports Club grounds come June?
To begin with, the dreaded law of averages might finally catch up with Kohli. Secondly, he might not play the series at all, given that there have been reports about senior cricketers being rested for the Zimbabwe tour.
Even if he does play the series though, he might not get enough overs under his belt to achieve the feat as he comes one-drop in ODIs as opposed to his preference for the opening slot in T20s these days.
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The Indian openers might also be looking to get some big runs under their belt given the quality of the opposition and Kohli might be starved of enough overs. In fact, in such circumstances, Rohit Sharma, who opens in the format and is quite a dangerous stroke maker himself when on song, might just beat Kohli to the feat, breaking his own highest individual ODI score record in the process.
The match situation can also be another impediment. If the Zimbabweans bat first on more occasions, then chances are that Kohli will not have 300 runs to score for himself. Indian fans will, therefore, be hoping that captain Dhoni wins the toss and chooses to bat every time.
It will also be interesting to note whether Kohli decides to open the innings, emulating his IPL experiment. That will be a sure sign that he is hungry for more and more runs.
Whether it happens in the upcoming tour of Zimbabwe or not, it is certain that if Kohli manages to hold on to his fitness levels, he is going to score an ODI triple ton at some stage of his career. If he is individually scoring over five runs an over in T20s, only lack of fitness can stop him from scoring at the same rate for 30 overs more.
Given that the Zimbabwe attack might be weaker than most IPL attacks on show, I believe Harare 2016 is the time to do it – assuming that Kohli plays the series.