In his cricketing journey, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar earned many nicknames from his dearest fans, colleagues, and other cricketing legends. Some of his nicknames were little master, master blaster, and the most famous one was the God of Cricket.
Sachin Tendulkar is not only a cricketing legend for India, but he is recognized as one of the all-time greatest cricketers who ever played the game. The master blaster holds the record of earning the most man-of-the-match awards in international cricket, which shows his legacy and consistency throughout the 24 years of his career.
Tendulkar made his debut against Pakistan in Karachi in the year of 1989 when he was just 16 years and 205 days old. Back then, who knew that this 16-year-old guy would end up scoring the most international runs in the game?
He is the all-time highest run-getter in both test and ODI cricket, with more than 15,000 and 18,000 runs, respectively. In 2002, when he was just halfway through his career, Wisden ranked him the second-greatest ODI batsman of all time behind Sir Vivian Richards and the second-greatest test batsman of all time behind the great Sir Donald Bradman.
A few years back, Tendulkar was asked a question at a cricketing event. The question was which players he thought could break his records and continue the legacy that he carried for 24 years during his cricketing career.
Sachin was quick enough to answer this question when he named Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Little Master was right about his predictions as later, and the entire world witnessed the domination by Rohit and Virat in both the red and white ball cricket with numerous match-winning performances.
New God of Cricket – Virat Kohli?
So, who do you think is the modern-day God of cricket? Because the entire world and the cricketing community believe that Virat Kohli has taken the standards of the game to a whole new level. His capacity to soak the pressure, his fitness, and his dedication have helped India as a nation to win so many close encounters. It won’t be a false claim to say that Virat Kohli has changed the face of Indian Red Ball Cricket.
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1. OG Captain and Batsman for the Indian Cricket Team
If we speak about the numbers, Virat Kohli is the most dominating and unforgiving test captain India has ever got. In his captaincy, India won a test series in Australia, and India remained the number one test side for five consecutive years. He led the side in 68 test matches and Won 40 of them, making him the most successful skipper in the game’s longest form. Apart from the Captaincy, Kohli had a staggering form with the bat as he scored 5703 runs with an average of 55.36. Interesting, isn’t it?
And if we speak about white ball cricket, Virat Kohli is the 4th most successful skipper in ODIs with 65 Wins out of 95 Games. He has been a modern-day G.O.A.T in white ball cricket, and during his captaincy tenure, he scored 5549 runs, second most after Captain Cool, who scored 6641 runs in 200 ODIs as a captain of the team. He scored 21 centuries as an ODI captain, which is the second most after Australia’s Ricky Ponting, who smashed 22 ODI tons as an ODI skipper.
Apart from the days and ODI Cricket, Virat Kohli was a successful asset of the Indian Cricket Team, even in the shortest format of the game. Captain Kohli scored 1570 runs as the T20I Captain, which is the most runs by any other Indian skipper in T20I Cricket. On the other hand, he’s the second most successful leader for India in T20Is with 30 wins.
2. Century King
In January 2023, Virat Kohli smashed his 74th International Century against Sri Lanka, and he is so far the fastest cricketer to achieve this fate. So far, he has smashed 27 tons in tests, 46 in ODIs, and 1 T20 Century against different playing nations. The King of India Cricket is also known as the Chase Master. He has scored 22 centuries in ODI while chasing. Over the years, Virat Kohli has undoubtedly been one of the most prominent and prolific batsmen for the Indian Cricket Team.
On 12th March 2023, Virat scored his 75th International Century playing against Australia. This was his 28th Century in Test cricket.
Playing against New Zealand in the Semifinals of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, Virat Kohli Scored his 80th International Century. This is his 50th ODI Century, and he has now surpassed Sachin Tendulkar.
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How has Virat Kohli become a New God of Cricket?
Earlier, when someone used to ask, ‘Who is the God of Cricket’? All we could hear was Sachinnnn! Sachinnnnnnn! But Kohli had other plans. The Chase Master of Cricket has so far bagged many international awards and records. Some of his remarkable records are:
- 6th Most Matches as a Test Captain – 68 Matches
- Hundred in each inning of a Test Match
- 5th Fastest to Score 7000 Runs in Test Matches
- 3rd Most Man of the Match Awards in ODIs – 38 Awards
- 3rd Most Player of the Series Awards in ODIs – 10 Awards
- Most Runs in T20Is – 4008 Runs
- Most Half Centuries in T20Is – 38 Half Centuries
- Most Centuries against a Single Team – 10 Centuries vs Sri Lanka
- 2nd Most Hundreds in a Calendar Year – 11 Centuries
- Second Fastest to Score 5000, 6000, and 7000 runs – 114, 136, and 161 Matches, respectively
- Fastest to Score 8000, 9000, 10000, 11000, and 12000 Runs – 175, 194, 205, 222, and 242 Matches, respectively.
These are just some of the major records that are made by the King of International Cricket. Sachin Tendulkar was indeed right when he named Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma as the upcoming great talents of Indian Cricket. Kohli has carried his legacy over the years, which has made him the very right and the strongest contender for being the new God of International Cricket.
Virat Kohli: 2nd God Of Cricket?
Virat Kohli broke the record for most runs in a Single Edition of the World Cup when he scored the 80th run against New Zealand in the Semi-final of the ICC World Cup 2023. He broke the record held by Sachin Tendulkar. Sachin had scored 673 runs in the ODI World Cup 2023.
Virat also holds the record for Most Runs in a Single Edition of the T20 World Cup and Most Runs in a Single Edition of the IPL.
Therefore, it won’t be wrong to call him the 2nd God of Cricket.
What do you think? Do you think that Virat Kohli has successfully carried the legacy of Sachin Tendulkar in terms of Batting, Sourav Ganguly in terms of Aggression, and Leading the team towards victory just like MS Dhoni? If yes, then it’s right to admit that Virat Kohli has become the modern-day God of Cricket.
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