West Indies legend Viv Richards believes Virat Kohli can break all records of Sachin Tendulkar if he plays till the age of 50.
The match no. 12 of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 between India and New Zealand at the Dubai International Stadium (DIS) will be a landmark one for Virat Kohli. The former India skipper is getting ready to play in his 300th ODI match, joining a rare club in international cricket.
After a lacklustre tour of Australia, where Kohli faded away after scoring a century in the first Test in Perth last year, Kohli has bounced back magnificently. In the high-pressure contest against Pakistan in the Champions Trophy 2025 in Dubai last Sunday, Kohli notched up his 51st century to guide India to a six-wicket win and also the semifinals of the tournament.
Kohli will be looking to continue his wonderful run of form and charge towards many of the records first achieved by Indian maestro Sachin Tendulkar in international cricket. The Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) has already become the fastest batter to 14,000 runs in ODI cricket in the last match.
West Indies cricket legend Sir Vivian Richards spoke glowingly about Virat Kohli in an exclusive interaction with select media on Sunday. “We shouldn’t compare Kohli and Tendulkar, folks who saw them were very lucky. We should appreciate their time in international cricket,” Richards told India.com on Sunday.
“He (Kohli) answered all of us and came back in magnificent style. It is true testament of his character, his fighting spirit and passion to do well…that’s why we put him up with the best,” Richards, who is Governing Council member of ongoing International Masters League, added.
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Congratulations to Virat Kohli on his 3⃣0⃣0⃣th ODI Match #TeamIndia | #NZvIND | #ChampionsTrophy | @imVkohli pic.twitter.com/Oup4fckSM9
— BCCI (@BCCI) March 2, 2025
Richards turned out in 121 Tests and 187 ODIs for the West Indies, scoring 8540 Test runs and 6721 ODI runs with 35 international centuries. There was lot of talk of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 being the final tournament possibly for both India captain Rohit Sharma and Kohli. But Richards believes that Kohli can go on and play till the age of 50.
“The way Kohli is and way his fitness is, he can still play till he is 50! He just scored a hundred recently against Pakistan in Dubai – just happened a week back. He is still at the best of his form, seeing way he comes back from failure is a tribute to his game,” Richards felt.
“If he plays till 50, he can surpass Tendulkar’s record of ODI runs and 100 centuries,” the legendary West Indies batter added.
Asked to name the best thing about Kohli’s cricket, Richards said, “Kohli’s energy and passion for the game is very important, seeing him on the boundary, he’s appealing for leg-before from there, he wants to be involved in the game all the time.”
On controversy over India playing all their matches in Dubai, Richards said it was ICC’s fault and no use blaming the Indian side. “India have an advantage of playing all matches in Dubai, ICC have got the problem and they should come up with an answer – if they are governing body, they should answer why this is happening,” Richards felt.
Finally, asked to compare International Masters League (IML) with other legends league around the world, Richards added, “Earlier when players retired from the game, they didn’t feel the need to keep themselves. But with leagues like IML coming up, it has given more professional approach to Legends League. It gives more respect to players like Sachin Tendulkar and Sachin Gavaskar.”
