Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar’s Australia stats coincidence will leave you stunned

There is a growing debate on who is the greater Indian cricket team batsman. Whether it is Virat Kohli or Sachin Tendulkar? The numbers are there for everyone to see. Tendulkar is the only player to get to 100 international centuries and is the leading run-getter in ODIs and Tests. Virat Kohli has taken over the mantle as one of the greatest in the current period. Virat Kohli is on track to emulate Sachin Tendulkar and break plenty of his records. Ahead of the series against Australia, Virat Kohli needs only 133 runs to become the fastest to 12000 ODI runs and break Sachin Tendulkar's record. However, there is one statistical coincidence that will blow everyone's mind away and that is against Australia.

Tendulkar scored 1000 Test runs against Australia at the age of 26 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 1999. When he reached 1000 runs, he had scored two fifties and five hundreds against Australia and he achieved the feat in 19 innings. Now, here is the freakish part. Kohli also scored 1000 Test runs against Australia during the 2014 Test series. Here is the clincher. Kohli's age at that time was 26, he took 19 innings to achieve it, he got to the landmark in the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne and like Tendulkar, he scored two fifties and five hundreds when he reached the landmark.

Apart from the year, everything about Kohli and Tendulkar achieving the record against Australia is freakishly similar. In the 1999 Boxing Day Test, Tendulkar hit a century and fifty (116 and 52) while in 2014, Kohli also hit a century and a fifty in the same Test (169 and 54). Tendulkar went on to score 3630 runs against Australia at an average of 55 with 11 centuries while Kohli so far has 1604 runs at an average of 48 against the Aussies.

Big chance for Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli has a total of six centuries in Tests in Australia and three ODI centuries Down Under. With a total of nine centuries combined across formats, Kohli is on the cusp of achieving something special. If Kohli hits a century in the ODIs or the T20Is, Virat Kohli will become the first player in the history of cricket to hit 10 centuries against Australia in their home turf across formats. Virat Kohli is currently level with England’s Jack Hobbs who also has nine centuries but all of them came in Tests.

If Virat Kohli hits a century in the Pink Ball Test, he will have the most number of centuries by an Indian batsman in Tests against Australia. Currently, Kohli is level with Sachin Tendulkar who has hit six centuries in Australia. Technically, Kohli has 11 centuries in Australia as he hit 107 in the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup clash against Pakistan in Adelaide and also a brilliant 133 against Sri Lanka in Hobart in 2012.