DNA Exclusive: Sachin Tendulkar hopes Virat Kohli or Rohit Sharma break his records

Sachin Tendulkar feels that Virat Kohli is performing well and can break his records. (Source: Twitter)

Sachin Tendulkar was at the pinnacle of the game before he retired from international cricket back in 2013. 100 international centuries – in Tests and ODIs – and over 34,000 international runs to his name, Tendulkar has so many cricketing records that even eight years after his retirement no one has even come close.

Records are always meant to be broken, but one just wonders will anyone will even get close to Tendulkar’s landmarks. Sachin Tendulkar in an exclusive interview with Zee News Editor-in-chief Sudhir Chaudhary was asked who the Master Blaster feels is going to break his record.

“Firstly, I want to say it’s not my record, it is India’s record and I hope the record remains with India in the future as well. I can’t predict who is going to break my record but there are players like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma who are performing really well. Kohli and Rohit are performing better than anyone else,” Tendulkar said in the exclusive interview.

Kohli, in particular, has a supremely impressive records in all formats of the game – averaging over 50 in Tests, ODIs as well as T20s. In 91 Tests, Kohli has 7,490 runs with 27 tons while he has also tallied 12,169 ODIs runs in 254 games with 43 centuries. The Indian skipper has a total of 70 international centuries in 13 years since his debut and if he goes on to play for another 10 years, surely Kohli is going to get very close to Tendulkar’s record if not go past them as well.

Mumbai Indians captain and India opener Rohit Sharma, on the other hand, has 40 international centuries – 29 of them coming in 227 ODIs, where he has scored 9,205 runs. But Rohit is still finding his feet in Test cricket and it seems unlikely that he will go on to achieve the dizzying heights achieved by Tendulkar.

Rishabh Pant and Cheteshwar Pujara impress Tendulkar

The former India captain was also impressed by the form and consistency shown by Pant and Pujara. “I am not talking about my record but Rishabh Pant and Cheteshwar Pujara have also put up some impressive performances. They have both shown some good form and consistency. However, anyone who breaks my record, I will continue to say that they broke India,” Tendulkar added.

All of these stars including Kohli will be seen in action against New Zealand in the inaugural World Test Championship final, which gets underway at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton on Friday (June 18) from 330pm onwards.