3 Sachin Tendulkar records Virat Kohli might never be able to break

The entire cricketing world is celebrating Virat Kohli, and rightfully so, as he masterfully composed his 49th ODI hundred in testing conditions against South Africa on his 35th birthday, leading India to a dominant win, their eighth of the 2023 World Cup.

The focus was also on Kohli matching the great Sachin Tendulkar's tally of 49 ODI hundreds, with the talk moving to whether Kohli can score his 50th hundred in this same World Cup.

Since the passing of the baton took place from Tendulkar to Kohli, the question has always been whether Kohli will emulate or even surpass the legacy of Tendulkar. Although it's lots of pressure for anyone to handle, Kohli has done so brilliantly.

While he looks on course to break some more of Sachin's records, many of Sachin's records are likely to stand tall for a long time and could prove hard for Kohli to break. Let's look at three such records.

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#1 Most matches in Test cricket (200)

Sachin Tendulkar has had the longest career in international cricket, and in line with it, he has played the most number of Test matches (200). James Anderson, who has featured in 183 matches, is the closest active player to Sachin, and it may be a tough ask even for the England pace ace to match Sachin's tally.

Where does Virat Kohli stand? He has played in 111 Test matches in his career, and while boasting of a stellar batting record in those games, he's a long way off from matching Sachin in this record.

Given Kohli's high fitness standards and levels, he can certainly play cricket at the top level for a minimum of 4-5 years if he chooses to, but even then, there's no way 89 Test matches will be scheduled for India in that period, and that will mean that Sachin will retain this record in his name.

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#2 Most runs in Test cricket (15,921)

Sachin Tendulkar celebrates his iconic 241 at Sydney against Australia.

There's a reason why all the records here are related to Test cricket and it's because Kohli is on the cusp of engulfing Sachin's records in ODI cricket, and Sachin didn't take part in T20Is that much.

However, he's one of the best Test batters of all time, and while Kohli is no slouch in that regard, the lesser amount of Test matches scheduled in his era may mean that he might not be able to beat the records Sachin set in this format.

Sachin scored an enviable 15,921 runs in his Test career, with Ricky Ponting in second place a good 2500 runs behind him. Virat Kohli has scored 8676 runs in 111 matches and is a far way from getting close to Sachin's tally of runs in the format.

For the same reason why he's unlikely to beat Sachin's record of matches played, it might be hard for Kohli to score 7000+ runs in the remainder of his Test career, especially considering the number of Test matches that get scheduled nowadays.

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#3 Most Test hundreds (51)

For the same reasons mentioned above, this is another improbable record for Kohli to try and break, but of the three, this is the likeliest for him to try and match. Sachin scored 51 hundreds in his Test career, with Jacques Kallis in second place with 45 to his name.

Kohli has scored 29 hundreds in Test cricket in 111 matches, and going by that hundreds-to-match ratio, it might be a hard ask for him to notch up the next 22 before he calls time on his career.

However, Kohli is a batter of the highest caliber, and this record is honestly a question of 22 good innings. Even though improbable, this proposition isn't out of the question for someone of his talent.