Virat Kohli Will Score 3 Tons Before IPL 2023 To Equal Sachin Tendulkar’s Record Of 49 ODI Tons: Sunil Gavaskar

Virat Kohli is very much back and has once again reignited the discussion of when, and not whether, will he be able to break Sachin Tendulkar’s ODI century record. And former India captain Sunil Gavaskar made a bold ‘IPL’ statement in making the big prediction.

For 80 odd international innings, stretched across 1028 days, Virat Kohli struggled for a century. However, since breaking free from the shackles in September last year, Virat Kohli, in just 22 innings, has scored four international tons, three of which were in ODIs in just four matches.

Virat Kohli Scored His 46th ODI Ton Against Sri Lanka In The 3rd ODI Which Resulted In Biggest Ever Win By India In ODI Format

On Sunday, in the third and final ODI match of the series against Sri Lanka, Virat Kohli scored his 46th ODI century en route to his match-winning knock of an unbeaten 166 which helped India win by a colossal margin of 317 runs to script a whitewash.

When Virat Kohli was stuck on 43 ODI tons between August 2019 and November 2022, the discussion of ‘when’ had transformed to ‘whether’ he would be able to make it past Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 49 tons in the format.

Sunil Gavaskar Reckons Virat Kohli Will Score 3 Tons Before IPL 2023 And Equal Sachin Tendulkar’s ODI Record Of Most ODI Tons

But with Virat Kohli resuming his duty of scoring hundreds at will, and clobbering three tons in just four innings, Sunil Gavaskar, predicted that it could well happen before the start of the impending IPL season.

Sunil Gavaskar pointed to the fact that India play three ODIs against New Zealand and then against Australia before IPL and given the form Virat Kohli is in, the former India captain might just find himself at the top of the elite ODI chart.

“The form that he is in, the way that he is playing right now…now we have three matches against New Zealand and three more against Australia. So we have six ODIs before IPL. And all he needs is three centuries. The way he is batting right now, why shouldn’t we feel that those three hundreds happen before the IPL,” he said.

The New Zealand series begins from January 18 onwards. The 34-year-old middle-order batter run machine’s recent ODI form wasn’t that great before the recently concluded Bangladesh and Sri Lanka ODIs. But a good show in the Asia Cup 2022 and T20 World Cup 2022, where he was among the leading run-getters, gave him the necessary confidence to return to form in ODIs too.

Virat Kohli scored his maiden T20I ton-122* against Afghanistan in Asia Cup 2022, and then notched up 4 fifties in T20I World Cup 2022 to emerge as the highest run-getter. He scored a ton against Bangladesh (113) in the 3rd ODI and scored two tons against Sri Lanka (113 and 166*) in the recently concluded ODI series.