Adam Gilchrist has called out a fake quote attributed to him spreading on social media, which questioned Virat Kohli’s recent India absence as an attempt to preserve Sachin Tendulkar’s ODI century record.
Subscribe to the Wisden Cricket YouTube channel for post-match analysis, player interviews, and much more.
Gilchrist responded to a post on X (formerly Twitter) which quoted him as saying “”Kohli is being rested on regular basis these days, I think they want Sachin’s record to be unbeaten.”
It’s unclear which record the author of the post was referring to exactly, but it is most likely to be Tendulkar’s position as the player with the most centuries in men’s ODI cricket. Tendulkar scored 49 ODI hundreds in his career, while Kohli sits in second place on the list with 47. His latest century in the format came against Pakistan in the Asia Cup.
Gilchrist responded to the fake quote by re-sharing the post with the caption “Never said this”.
Never said this. https://t.co/GgcgK0ukmG
— Adam Gilchrist (@gilly381) September 20, 2023
Kohli has been rested for the first two matches of India’s three-match ODI series against Australia along with several other senior players. Rohit Sharma has also been rested for the first two matches, as have Hardik Pandya and Shubman Gill. A full strength squad has been named for the final ODI.
Kohli was also rested for India’s dead-rubber Asia Cup Super Fours match against Bangladesh, along with other key players. He was still part of the squad for the match however, and ran the drinks on the field during the game.
During the Asia Cup, Kohli passed 13,000 ODI runs and became the fastest player to cross the milestone, beating Tendulkar’s record. Tendulkar took 321 innings to pass 13,000 runs while Kohli took 267.
While Kohli might be closing in on Tendulkar’s century record, he is still some way off his overall run-scoring record. Tendulkar scored 18,426 runs in his ODI career, with Kohli still on 13,027. He will have to overtake Sanath Jayasuriya, Ricky Ponting and Kumar Sangakkara if he is to reel Tendulkar in.
