File image of Virat Kohli© AFP
The clock for the upcoming Asia Cup and ODI World Cup is ticking and the excitement of the fans is also increasing day-by-day. Team India, who will be looking to end their decade-long ICC trophy drought in the World Cup, is not leaving any stone unturned in its preparations. The two mega events are also special as the Indians fans would be eager to witness star batter Virat Kohliplaying blistering knocks and inching closer towards the record of legendary Sachin Tendulkar.
The 34-year-old batter battled through his lean patch and roared back to form in Asia Cup 2022 and hasn’t looked back since then. Virat also showed his batting prowess in the 50-over format as well and smashed two centuries this year and registered a total of 46 ODI tons.
Seeing Kohli in a fiery form, many fans and cricket experts have expressed that the former India skipper is highly likely to surpass Sachin’s record of 49 ODI centuries. However, former India batter Robin Uthappa stated that Kohli will be focusing only on winning matches in the upcoming events rather than breaking any record.
“Virat (Kohli) doesn’t really care about breaking records anymore. We as people and fans are obsessed with it. He would much rather win matches for India irrespective of those hundreds. Virat’s focus will be on winning matches for India in the Asia Cup and World Cup. He doesn’t really care about the records,” Uthappa told Times of India.
“Whether he (Virat) achieves that milestone (breaking Sachin’s ODI centuries record) during the Asia Cup, World Cup or at any (other) point in his career, it doesn’t matter because his sole focus is on winning matches for India, not his hundreds,” said Uthappa.
Recently, Kohli featured in the Test series against West Indies where he smashed a century and scored a total of 197 runs in two matches. Later, he played one game in the three-match ODI series against the Windies and was benched in the remaining two as Team India went ahead with new combinations.
Talking about the events, the Asia Cup 2023 will kick-start on August 31 and will be co-hosted by Pakistan and Sri Lanka. On the other hand, the ODI World Cup 2023 will begin on October 5 in Ahmedabad.
Topics mentioned in this article
