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Former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar hopes to see Virat Kohli overtake cricketing stalwart Sachin Tendulkar's record of 100 centuries in international cricket. Kohli has not been in the best of forms but has shown some improvements in the ongoing Asia Cup 2022.
Kohli has looked decent in the Asia Cup so far as he played two important knocks in the first games against Pakistan and Hong Kong. He put up a crucial 35 against in the tournament opener and hit a solid fifty against Hong Kong to help India remain undefeated in the tournament.
While speaking in a video on his YouTube channel, Shoaib Akhtar said, “Virat Kohli hasn't been middling the ball really well. Both innings were quite patchy. He scored 59, I wish him the best. Mera ye hi mashwara hoga Kohli ko ki dekh lo World Cup tak (My only suggestion to Kohli is to just wait till the T20 World Cup), if this format suits your or doesn't suit you. 30 centuries karni hain aur aage (you have to score 30 more centuries).”
Kohli has 70 centuries and is nearest to Sachin Tendulkar in active players and is currently behind only Sachin and former Australia captain Ricky Ponting (71) in the list of batters with the most centuries in international cricket. But Akhtar believes that Kohli’s remaining 30 centuries will be the toughest for him as he has failed to score a hundred for India since November 2019.
“You can become the greatest player forever. You have to convince yourself that you are the greatest ever. This is going to be the hardest 30 centuries -- if he scores. When he goes to the longest formats, he will get time to settle," said Akthar.
"Here, he is trying but the time is less, you have to maintain a good strike rate, you have to ensure the team wins. He is positive, he is aggressive.. he is a great player, but I really want him to score 100 centuries and break Sachin Tendulkar's record. It looks impossible right now, but this man can do it,” he added.