Virender Sehwag claims Virat Kohli can surpass Sachin Tendulkar

What's the story?

Former Indian opener Virender Sehwag believes that Indian skipper Virat Kohli will surpass the feats of Sachin Tendulkar by the time his career comes to an end.

Kohli is arguably the greatest cricketer of his generation, along with England's Joe Root, and the 28-year-old has notched up some unbelievable numbers against his name in his career so far.

Sehwag believes that Kohli can easily on for another decade and predicts the Delhi cricketer to outdo Tendulkar.

“We never thought that there would be another (Sachin) Tendulkar. But (Virat) Kohli has changed this mindset. I think Virat can surpass Tendulkar's records,“ Sehwag told India TV.

“Virat is just 28 years old and he will play at least for 10 more years and I think he can surpass Tendulkar," he added.

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Apart from a minor blip in form spanning for not more than a series or so, Kohli has been a man on a rampage throughout his career with a panache for scoring centuries.

He already has 47 international centuries and close to 20000 runs to his name at the highest level of the game and with the peak years of a sportsperson still ahead of him, Sehwag believes that the best is yet to come from Kohli.

The heart of the matter

The consistency with which Kohli has been scoring runs for India has seen him being compared to the legendary Sachin Tendulkar, whose feat of 100 international centuries, apart from many others, felt unmatchable at one point of time.

But with the international calendar being a tightly-packed one as well as the increasing focus on player fitness - Kohli being a prime example of the latter - the players get to feature in a higher number of matches compared to the earlier days, boosting their chances on the statistics front.

And for someone like Kohli, who has hardly remained out of touch with the bat for long, many believe that the Indian skipper can go on to become the greatest batsman the game has ever seen.

Extra Cover: 5 records Virat Kohli can never break

What's next?

With a busy home season coming up for India - Australia, New Zealand, and Sri Lanka to be precise - Kohli has the opportunity to rack up more runs, especially in the ODI format where he is only 1413 runs away from the landmark of 10000 runs.

India will then head to South Africa for a full-fledged series that is expected to test Kohli 's abilities as a player and skipper to the fullest.

Author's take

Times are changing in international cricket and it is always unfair to compare players from different generations. The quality of the opposition, the nature of the surface, the playing conditions, rules of the game and so on changes with time.

Both Tendulkar and Kohli are incredible players whose achievements are monumental but it will be a huge injustice to either of them to compare those feats.

However, Sehwag does make a valid point as Kohli could surpass Sachin on the statistics front considering Kohli's age and the number of matches India play on a regular basis - provided the latter continues to play the way he has been doing.