Like master, like apprentice: Stunning similarity between Kohli’s and Tendulkar’s 58th international tons

Ever since he took over the responsibility of being Team India’s premier run-scorer in international cricket, Virat Kohli has always been thought of as the heir to Sachin Tendulkar’s crown. The two of them are widely regarded as the best batsmen of their respective generations and Kohli is stacking up records, one after another, just like his idol Tendulkar.

On Monday, Kohli did something, which might be a freak coincidence, but it further proved that the two careers are following a similar path.

The Indian captain was a paragon of grit, guts and gumption as he brought up a fine century on day 3 of the third Test against England to put his team in command of the match. This was Kohli’s 58th century in international cricket. Nothing unusual, Kohli scoring a century has become quite a norm, that until you realise that Sachin Tendulkar also struck his 58th international ton against England. If you are a stats-tragic and love to scratch the surface even more then you will be surprised to know that both the batsmen ended their innings with 103 runs and played exactly the same number of deliveries, that is 197 balls.

The hundred in Nottingham is Kohli’s 23rd Test ton while Tendulkar scored his 27th ton against England at Ahmedabad.

Two of the biggest stars in Indian cricket, Kohli and Tendulkar, were part of the team when India won the 2011 World Cup.

First Published: Aug 21, 2018 12:52 IST