However , when one goes past into the history books , this number of 35 was a unique number way back in 1990s.The greats of those times could never go past this number. They jointly held the record of most number of international centuries of 35 tons apiece. It was a big tie between the Little Master, King of cricket Sir VIV and unsung hero Desmond Haynes . Gavaskar had only one ODI ton against his name whereas VIV and Haynsey had 11 and 17 respectively with the latter being the record holder of highest number of ODI tons.
People like me were always optimistic that one day someone will go past the legend of ODIs Krish Shrikanth’s record of 4 centuries for India and boy !! What a way to move past it. Sachin made a mockery of the number and Virat would put a question mark on the bowlers careers in the ODI format. Both these guys went past the number 35 in one format of the game only 😊 and seamlessly !
Indian Cricket has come a long way from the days of Gavaskar’s record of scoring 36* in first World Cup after batting for 60 overs to a day when almost all ODI batting records being held by Indians .
However , the records do not come just by the passage of time . They are a byproduct of years of nurturing , arrival of superstars who make their presence felt and change the way the game is played in addition to the infrastructure provided to the teams . The records also come at the cost of some countries giving priority to other games or format of the sport and become minnows like West Indies or Australia who still rule and focus on the test cricket. The count of centuries also come at a frantic pace with the way sports is played with increasing number of games in shorter duration however it has also impacted the longevity of the players .Gone are the days of long careers .
Virat has been phenomenal against all odds and has maintained his form , delivered for his teams and been a legend of his own in short span of his career while adjusting to the nature and requirement of the game. Let’s wait and watch how many records continue to tumble in his era and what new targets would be set in , hopefully to be set aside by a future generation Indian.
100 was the number set by the blaster , let’s see where Virat stops or are we going to see a tie again like 35 , only time will tell . Till then !! Wait , Watch and Enjoy the game of new King of Cricket .
- Jayawant
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