The former Indian wicket-keeper batter Robin Uthappa has backed Virat Kohli to achieve a huge feat towards the end of his career in the One Day International cricket and the longest format of the game. The former Indian captain has already taken retirement from the shortest format of the game as he looks to put attention to the rest two formats of the game.
Virat Kohli has grabbed so many records when it comes to ODI cricket. When it comes to this limited-overs format, he is the third highest run-getter, with 13848 runs in 280 innings at an average of nearly 60, with a strike rate of 93.58, besides celebrating 72 half-centuries and 50 centuries, with the best score of 183-run knock.
There was a point of time in his career when he was struggling for runs, but he backed it up quite beautifully in recent times and looked to be in sharp touch going into the upcoming years, where he aims to break so many records in the 50-over format.
“I think Virat Kohli will climb”- Robin Uthappa
When it comes to the most centuries in ODIs, Virat Kohli sits at the top of the ladder with 50 hundreds, the very recent of which came during the semifinal of the 2023 ODI World Cup 2023 against New Zealand at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
When it comes to Test cricket, the Delhi boy is the 19thhighest run-getter of the list with 8848 runs in 113 games, at an average of 49.15 and a strike rate of over 55, besides celebrating 29 centuries and 30 fifties, with the best score of unbeaten 254 runs.
At the moment, the 35-year-old is the fourth leading run-getter in international cricket, with 26884 runs in 530 games, at an average of 45.95 and a strike rate of nearly 70, with 140 fifties and 80 centuries, as he chased Sachin Tendulkar’s rare record 100 centuries.
During the pre-match show of the first ODI game between India and Sri Lanka, one of the fans used the ‘X’ handle to ask former Indian opening batter Robin Uthappa if Virat Kohli could get back to his top rank in ODI and Test cricket.
“Do you think Virat Kohli will ever climb back to the 1st rank in ODI and Test rankings?” The ‘X’ (formerly known as Twitter) user questioned.
The former Karnataka player made a huge prediction in replay as he felt that the batter would climb more shortly to reach the top position.
“I think Virat Kohli will climb. It’s just a matter of time Virat Kohli will become the No.1 ranked Test and ODI batter in the World.” Uthappa hoped.
The best period for Kohli in international cricket was during the period between January 2016 and November 2019, when he nailed 10331 runs across formats in 180 innings, at an average of 71.2, besides celebrating 36 centuries and 43 half-centuries.
Then he started to struggle in all forms of the game, which saw him collecting 2554 runs in 79 innings, at an average of 35.5, besides notching up only 24 fifties and going a century less.
But Virat Kohli has backed it up beautifully, having returned to scoring runs, as he has grabbed 3158 runs in 71 innings, at an average of 53.5, to record ten centuries and 18 half-centuries.
As of August 02, he finds himself in the third position with 768 ratings in the 50-over format, while in the longest format, the veteran stands in the tenth position with 737 points. He will aim to continue scoring truck-loaded runs in the upcoming home season to claim the top spot in both forms of the game.