'He will do it for sure': Suresh Raina backs Virat Kohli to break colossal Sachin Tendulkar century record
Virat Kohli had scored his 75th international century in the final Test between India and Australia, thus ending his drought of tons in the longest format of the game that had gone on for over three years.
Virat Kohli could not really capitalise on the form he had found in the fourth Test against Australia on Friday, falling for just four runs in the first ODI against Steve Smith's side. Kohli is on the cusp of multiple big batting records held by the likes of Ricky Ponting and Sachin Tendulkar and can get close to them, even surpass a few, if he scores big in the remaining two matches of the series.
Former India batter Suresh Raina feels that Kohli maintaining his form is very important for the team this year considering the fact that they play the World Test Championship final and later the World Cup. “He is in great form, has maintained his fitness very well. Played very well in the last Test match,” said Raina on Sports Yaari. The Test series between India and Australia featured tracks that heavily favoured spinners in the first three Tests and Kohli could only manage a highest score of 44. Raina said that it will be interesting to see how he fares in the WTC Final at the The Oval in England. The match is scheduled to start on June 7.
“I think he was playing on too many turning tracks. It will be fun to see him bat in the WTC final. Virat is a champion, has given India performances at crucial times. Now with the World Cup coming it is important for him to keep maintain this form,” said Raina.
Raina even went on to say that he expects Kohli to get to Sachin Tendulkar's record of 100 international centuries. Tendulkar is the only batter to have scored 100 tons in international cricket and with 75, Kohli is the second highest on that list. “He has always been in form and now he is scoring centuries. That's why they say that we should visit the Mahakaleshwar temple, performances will come. For sure he will get top 100 centuries,” said Raina, jokingly referring to Kohli and his wife Anushka Sharma's Instagram posts of them visiting the temple in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh.
Kohli could surpass former Australia captain Ricky Ponting in the list of batters with most runs in ODIs at home in the next match that will be hosted by Visakhapatnam on Saturday. Kohli has scored 5362 runs in 108 matches while Ponting had scored 5406 runs in 153 matches. Kohli currently sits third on that list which is headed by Tendulkar, who had scored 6976 runs in 164 matches.
