KOLKATA: Former India captain Sourav Ganguly on Friday predicted that Kohli will surpass batting great Sachin Tendulkar’s One-Day Internationals (ODIs) record of 49 tons but the challenge would be to match the Little Master in his Test records.

Sachin has 49 ODI hundreds and 51 Test centuries to make it 100 international tons.

Kohli, since making his ODI debut in 2008, has amassed 32 hundreds.

The 29-year-old recently became the fastest to 50 international centuries by racking up his 18th Test ton at the Eden Gardens against Sri Lanka in the first Test.

“Virat will get very close to Sachin’s One-day International hundreds which is 49. He is already 32. He will get close to that. He has got to stay fit. When I was playing, from 1996-2003, I had 22 ODI hundreds in 7 years,” Ganguly said.

“I see that with Kohli as well. He has got 30 odd in about nine years. It gets tougher with age. It got tougher for Sachin, it got tougher for me, it will get tougher for Virat Kohli,” said Ganguly, who has 22 centuries in 311 ODIs and 16 Test tons in 113 games.

“He plays a lot of cricket. I personally feel he will get there. To 50 international hundreds with the amount of ODIs that are played, the challenge will be in Test matches to get that far. It’s a terrific feeling to have seen Sachin and now you are seeing this boy,” Ganguly added.

Asked to compare Tendulkar and Kohli, Ganguly said they are from different generations, adding that Kohli is more expressive and proactive as captain than Tendulkar.

“It’s not right to compare because these are two cricketers who are from two different generations.

“I have seen Tendulkar very very closely. An unbelievable cricketer. Some of the runs he has got, match-winning innings he has played is fantastic.

Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2017