He raced past former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting, and is now only behind Tendulkar, who has 49 ODI hundreds to his credit.

"His (Kohli's) attitude hasn't changed since he got into the team. I noticed that spark in him which many guys were not fond of and there were many guys who were criticising him for that," Tendulkar said during his interaction at the launch of "Democracy's XI The Great Indian Cricket Story" penned by journalist Rajdeep Sardesai at the Royal Opera House in Mumbai on Monday evening.

"And today that has become the strength of the Indian team. He hasn't changed much but people around him have changed. His attitude has changed only because of his performances and it is extremely crucial for a player to have that freedom to express himself," the legendary batsman added.

Tendulkar also said that the present Indian team is lot more balanced as a unit.

"I feel today we have got great balance in the team with a lot of spinners that can bat, lot of seamers that can bat.

We saw what Bhuvneshwar (Kumar) did yesterday, people like him (Bhuvneshwar) and Hardik Pandya are going to change the balance when we start travelling," he said.

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