Virat Kohli scored his 20th One-Day International (ODI) century on October 17, 2014 against West Indies at Dharamsala just in his 133rd innings. He became the quickest to reach the milestone, Bharath Seervi compares his mark with others who scored 20 centuries.
Virat Kohli has been is scoring centuries in ODIs with ease. He made his debut on August 18, 2008, scored his maiden century on 24 December, 2009 and quickly he reached his 20th ODI century on October 17, 2014. It took his just 133 innings to get to the milestone of 20 ODI centuries.
The landmark has been reached by only seven other cricketers in the past and all of them got there in much more innings than Kohli. The next quickest batsman to 20 ODI centuries is Sachin Tendulkar who got there in his 197th innings — in other words, a whopping 64 innings more! The table below lists down the number of innings for each ODI century mark of those who scored 20 and more centuries.
Number of innings for each century mark:
Batsman
Virat Kohli
Sachin Tendulkar
Sourav Ganguly
Herschelle Gibbs
Chris Gayle
Saeed Anwar
Ricky Ponting
Sanath Jayasuriya
1
13
76
30
20
31
11
12
64
2
17
81
50
35
52
19
20
99
3
32
87
55
47
54
33
39
103
4
33
93
66
65
55
38
50
121
5
43
100
72
68
66
39
59
128
6
61
103
86
71
77
40
93
135
7
63
108
98
97
81
64
117
142
8
68
111
115
103
86
75
120
195
9
79
117
119
104
98
106
135
209
10
80
131
123
105
113
111
149
218
11
82
137
126
111
118
112
154
224
12
83
145
130
120
131
120
161
252
13
86
175
138
155
142
134
165
263
14
103
181
143
159
146
137
174
276
15
106
182
144
161
147
143
180
277
16
107
185
151
184
181
176
205
280
17
110
189
170
206
182
177
218
310
18
112
191
174
207
184
207
225
311
19
124
194
197
213
189
208
240
338
20
133
197
214
217
226
243
244
350
1st to 20th
121
122
185
198
196
233
233
287
The last row in the table shows the number of innings from maiden ODI ton to the 20th. It is well-known that Tendulkar, who had started much lower down the order, scored his first century in his 76th ODI innings. His frequency increased heavily after on and he reached his 20th century in 197th innings which is 122 innings after his first ODI century. But Kohli has surpassed him even with that criterion. Kohli scored his first ODI century in his 13th innings and 20th century in 133rd, which means he had taken 121 innings to reach 20 hundreds after he had scored the first (the corresponding number for Tendulkar is 122).
Career aggregates at the point of 20 ODI centuries:
Kohli has the highest average, highest strike rate, least number of runs, least number of innings and least number of half-centuries at the end of 20 ODI centuries among all the other seven who got to the same milestone. His average of 51.57 easily surpasses those of the others. The next best at that point was Ponting’s 42.74.
Player
M
I
R
Ave
SR
50s
HS
Kohli
141
133
5,879
51.57
89.85
31
183
Ponting
250
244
9,191
42.74
79.34
52
164
Tendulkar
204
197
7,575
42.55
86.15
43
143
Ganguly
222
214
8,408
42.46
74.28
50
183
Gayle
231
226
8,328
39.84
84.56
45
153*
Anwar
246
243
8,784
39.04
80.63
43
194
Gibbs
224
217
7,383
36.73
83.37
33
175
Jayasuriya
359
350
10,758
32.11
88.78
60
189
The 20th ODI century:
Tendulkar was the first to complete 20 ODI centuries. He reached there with 118 not out against Zimbabwe at Sharjah on November 8, 1998. The next to get there was another Indian — Tendulkar’s opening partner Ganguly — in ICC World Cup 2003 against Namibia (Tendulkar scored his 34th hundred in the same match).
In the same World Cup, Anwar reached his 20th ODI century against India at Centurion. Ponting scored his 20th century at the famous match at Johannesburg where Australia scored 434 but could not defend it. Jayasuriya emulated him in the England tour at the Oval the same year.
Gibbs got there in 2008 at Johannesburg against West Indies. Once his issues with the board were sorted out, Gayle reached the milestone in 2012 against New Zealand.
Batsman
Runs
Against
Venue
Date
Result
Tendulkar
118*
Zimbabwe
Sharjah
November 8, 1998
Won
Ganguly
112*
Namibia
Pietermaritzburg
February 23, 2003
Won
Anwar
101
India
Centurion
March 1, 2003
Lost
Ponting
164
South Africa
Johannesburg
March 12, 2006
Lost
Jayasuriya
122
England
The Oval
June 20, 2006
Won
Gibbs
102
West Indies
Johannesburg
February 3, 2008
Won
Gayle
125
New Zealand
Kingston
July 7, 2012
Won
Kohli
127
West Indies
Dharamsala
October 17, 2014
Won
Number of days from Maiden ODI ton to 20th ODI ton
Though Kohli took the least number of innings from both debut and maiden ton to 20th ton, Tendulkar required the least number of days (1,521) from his maiden ODI ton to the 20th. Kohli needed 1,758. However, Kohli has required the least number of days (2,251) from debut to the milestone.
Batsman
ODI debut
Maiden ton
20th ton
Days from 1stTon to 20th ton
Days from debut to 20th ton
Tendulkar
December 18, 1989
September 9, 1994
November 8, 1998
1,521
3,247
Kohli
August 18, 2008
December 24, 2009
October 17, 2014
1,758
2,251
Ganguly
January 11, 1992
September 6, 1996
February 23, 2003
2,361
4,061
Gibbs
October 3, 1996
January 30, 1999
February 3, 2008
3,291
4,140
Ponting
February 15, 1995
January 9, 1996
March 12, 2006
3,715
4,043
Gayle
September 11, 1999
August 15, 2001
July 7, 2012
3,979
4,683
Jayasuriya
December 26, 1989
December 8, 1994
June 20, 2006
4,212
6,020
Anwar
January 1, 1989
February 17, 1990
March 1, 2003
4,760
5,172
Kohli’s competitor: Hashim Amla
Kohli has scored centuries at a greater pace than almost all ODI legends. However, he is being given good competition from Hashim Amla. At present, Amla has 15 centuries from 92 innings and 4,621 runs at an average of 54.36. Let us compare the number of innings they took to score their ODI centuries.
Batsman
Kohli
Amla
1
13
9
2
17
24
3
32
27
4
33
29
5
43
30
6
61
34
7
63
41
8
68
43
9
79
52
10
80
57
11
82
64
12
83
81
13
86
83
14
103
84
15
106
86
1 to 15
94
78
If Amla goes in the same form, he will reach 20 ODI centuries in quite less number of innings than Kohli took. It will suffice if he takes 54 or less innings to score those five hundreds.
(Bharath Seervi is a cricket statistician who is obsessed with digging numbers, facts and records related to the game. An active member of Society of Cricket Statisticians of India, he blogs at www.cricketseervistats.blogspot.com. He can be followed on Twitter at www.twitter.com/SeerviBharath and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SeerviCricket)
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