Virat Kohli has been smashing records for more than a decade now. Though he didn't get to his first 2000 runs in ODI cricket as quickly as his current status as the unmatched master of ODI batting would suggest, by the time he reached 3000 runs, it was clear that Kohli was destined for greatness.
When he reached 5000 ODI runs, he only had Vivian Richards ahead of him for least innings taken for getting to that milestone. When he reached the summit of 6000, he had gone past King Viv also. From 8000 onwards, he has reached the multiples of 1000 runs in ODIs ahead of everyone else. Now, he has completed his climb to the top of Mt. 12000.
It took Kohli 242 innings. Sachin Tendulkar had held the record for being quickest to 12000. He took 300 innings. Needless to say, Kohli is way ahead of the man he and millions of other kids in the 1990s grew up admiring. This brings to the fore a question that is, possibly, the most divisive in Indian cricket universe today - Is Kohli better than Tendulkar?
The arguments in this debate are also familiar. Those in support of Kohli will mention his eye-popping stats while those in the Tendulkar camp will make the case that Kohli has played in a much more batting-friendly era.
But there is another very important fact that needs to be remembered while weighing up both players. That is the very limited start that Sachin had to his ODI career. While he did play some good innings, Sachin's ODI journey really took off when he opened the innings for the first time in this format - against New Zealand on March 27, 1994, at Auckland.
His 82 off 49 in that game was the announcement of his arrival on the big stage of 50-over cricket. Later that year, after a wait of 78 games, he scored his first ODI hundred. Kohli, on the other hand, was batting in the top order right from the begining of his career. You can argue that Sachin's ODI career begins in right earnest only after around his first 70-odd matches.
So, the difference of 58 matches between Kohli and Sachin, when they reached 12000 runs, is superficial. But it is rendered such even more so by the massive changes in the game of ODI cricket. In 1990s, a score of 260 was regarded as very likely to be successfully defended. Now, even 350 isn't safe.
On top of that, while Sachin was way ahead of his peers in ODI cricket during his era, Kohli's exploits, if not matched fully, are partially being replicated by a host of top class batsmen. Kane Williamson, Joe Root, Quinton de Kock, Rohit Sharma, and some others have been racing through multiples of 1000 runs in record time also.
So, before declaring Kohli as the greatest of all time, one has to weigh in several factors that put his predecessors like Tendulkar and RIchards at a disadvantage vis-a-vis him. What can be said without any doubt is that, Kohli belongs to the most elite batsmen that ODI format has seen. But calling him the greatest of all time is not possible.
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