Australia’s legend, Ricky Ponting still believes that Virat Kohli can surpass Sachin Tendulkar for the most runs in ODIs if he remains hungry. Currently, Virat Kohli has 14,085 runs whereas the ‘Master Blaster’ has 18,426 runs. Virat Kohli rose to 5th position after smashing his 51st ODI century against Pakistan during the 2025 Champions Trophy match. Kohli is behind Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara (14,234) apart from India’s Sachin Tendulkar (18,426).
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What did he say?
“With someone like Virat, you never write him off, because I’m sure he would be motivated by that (achieving the record),” Ponting said on the ICC Review Podcast.
“Now that he’s gone past me and only two ahead of him, I’m sure he wants to give himself the best chance to be remembered as the all-time leading run scorer in the game. So, as long as the hunger’s there… physically, he’s probably as fit as he’s ever been and works exceptionally hard on that side of his game. If the hunger’s still there then I’m never going to write him off.” He added.
“It’s crazy when you think about it … how good Virat’s been over such a long period of time, yet he’s still 4,000 runs behind Sachin. It just goes to show how good Sachin was, but also his longevity in the game. How long Sachin played for and how long you’re able to maintain such high levels for as a player. That’s the one thing I’ve always judged excellence on, is how long you can maintain it for.” Ponting said.
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Kohli Vs Tendulkar
Virat Kohli has featured in 299 ODIs and scored 14,085 runs with 183 being his highest score. Kohli made this score against Pakistan in the 2012 Asia Cup while successfully chasing a target of 330 runs. Sachin Tendulkar on the other hand had played 463 ODI matches and made 18,426 with his high score being 200* against South Africa where India made a humongous total of 401 runs.
