Records keep tumbling, yet Sachin Tendulkar's elusive 100 hundreds milestone stands beyond Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli scored his 53rd ODI century in Raipur against South Africa. (Photo: X)

The numbers in isolation are mindboggling. Virat Kohli’s 93-ball 102 in Raipur was the 11th time he had reeled off hundreds in two or more consecutive ODIs. One memorable week in October 2018, he stroked three straight centuries against West Indies. This latest effort, following on from his 120-ball 135 in Ranchi, was his 53rd in the 50-over format, now four clear of his hero, Sachin Tendulkar.

Tendulkar, the original white-ball master, made 49 centuries in 452 ODI innings, with a three-figure knock coming along every nine visits to the crease. Kohli has needed just 295 innings to get to 53 tons – that rate of one every 5.6 innings is beyond compare among those who have played for any length of time. When you consider that he first smashed back-to-back centuries 15 years ago, his fitness, endurance and hunger come into view just as much as the skills.

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Kohli has now played 621 innings across the three formats and scored 84 centuries, a rate of one every 7.4 knocks. Even that figure is marginally better than Tendulkar’s 100 hundreds in 782 innings. Kohli, however, would be the first to urge restraint when it comes to comparisons, especially given the multiple changes in playing conditions and equipment that the format has seen.

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Where Kohli really stands apart is in his conversion rate. Once he was set, he seldom left the crease without making it count. In ODIs, his ratio of hundreds to 50-plus scores is over 41 percent. Tendulkar’s was just over 33.

And if India do go on to win in Raipur, despite the dew factor, it would mark the 45th Kohli ton in an Indian victory. That success rate of over 84 per cent illustrates just how much of a talisman he has been for over a decade and a half.

The big question now is whether he can go on to match his hero and score 100 international hundreds. These two hundreds have shut down any debates about his immediate future, but would he even contemplate carrying on beyond the 2027 World Cup?

To put things into perspective it took Kohli 90 matches and nearly seven years to score his last 15 ODI hundreds. This is the one format that cricket boards least want to play now, and that’s borne out by the numbers. Between the 2015 and 2019 World Cup, India played 86 matches. But between that heartbreaking defeat at Old Trafford in 2019 and the home World Cup in 2023, there were only 66 matches.

This game in Raipur is only India’s 19th since the lost final in Ahmedabad. Given how packed the calendars are now, it would be a huge surprise if India played more than 30 ODIs between now and the 2027 World Cup in southern Africa. So, is 100 hundreds on? In a word, no. Not even for Kohli, the man who has found the cheat code for ODIs.