Former England captain Nasser Hussain cautioned Team India batter Virat Kohli on losing focus on winning the World Cup in sight of leveling the legendary Sachin Tendulkar’s mark of 49 ODI centuries.
Following his 48th ODI ton against Bangladesh, several talks have been going on Kohli’s quest to level Tendulkar’s ODI century mark. Unfortunately, the 34-year-old hasn’t been able to complete the milestone, falling just short against New Zealand and Sri Lanka.
While he struck 95 in a fantastic run chase against the Kiwis, Kohli had a huge chance on 88 against the Lankans, only to fall agonisingly short once more.
Hussain told Star Sports after the game that Virat Kohli will ultimately attain the milestone, but that the achievement should not be used to distract India’s ultimate objective of winning the World Cup.
“Anything I would say about it is winning the World Cup is the most important thing,” Nasser Hussain said. “He will get the 49, he will get the 50th. He will probably get a 100 international hundreds, he is that good.
“But the more important thing is winning the World Cup. India must not build it up to be about his 49th.”
Nasser Hussain
Despite the discussion about Kohli’s amazing feat if he gets there, Team India’s performance has been unaffected.
India has been in devastating form, sweeping aside all opponents to take the tournament lead with seven wins in as many games. Their current victory over Sri Lanka by a staggering 302 runs also saw them become the first team to qualify for the 2023 World Cup semi-finals.
Nasser Hussain: Sachin Tendulkar Only Realized His Greatness When He Scored His 100th Century
Nasser Hussain recalls Sachin Tendulkar feeling genuine strain when he had 99 international hundreds and the wait for the 100th was becoming longer.
Tendulkar hit his 99th century against South Africa in the 2011 World Cup, but it took another year and nearly 30 innings for him to get his 100th century against Bangladesh.
The former England captain Nasser Hussain hoped Kohli could block out any outside distractions so that Team India could focus on winning the World Cup.
“I remember Sachin had spoken about it, the only time he really felt the enormity of who he was when going from 99 to 100, the person in the room service before he hung up asked him ‘are you going to get your 100th today?”
“He hid himself from the noise, he shut out the noise and the only time he could hear the noise was from 99 to 100. So, I just hope that Virat can hide away from that noise, just for a few weeks longer.”
Nasser Hussain
Virat Kohli has been firing all cylinders scoring 442 runs in 7 games averaging above 88. Second in the list by the number of half centuries of the world cup with hundred and four.
India will again head for Kolkata where it plays against South Africa on Sunday (November 5), another in form side in the World Cup.