Will take 'hell of an effort' to match 'great' Tendulkar's record: Kohli

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ANI Colombo [Sri Lanka]
Last Updated : Sep 04 2017 | 11:42 AM IST

Indian skipper Virat Kohli, who equalled Ricky Ponting's 30 ODI hundreds during the fifth ODI against Sri Lanka, said that it was an honour for him to equal someone like the former Australian skipper.

He, however, maintained that it will take a "hell of an effort" to reach anywhere near Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar's world record of 49 ODI hundreds.

"It's an honour for me to equal someone like Ricky Ponting. That's not something that you aim for but obviously he's a great player and as batsmen we all respect what these legends have done," said Kohli in the post-match press conference.

"The great man (Sachin Tendulkar) is quite a bit away. That's going to take a hell of an effort. Again, I am not thinking about that. For me, it's only about the team where even if I score a 90 not out and the team goes across the line, it's good enough for me," he added.

The 28-year-old further insisted that he only focuses on contributing to the team and doesn't play for records.

"I look to perform as well as I can for the team. These things keep happening as you go along in your career. You don't target these things, but those stat windows are hard to neglect because they pop up everywhere after you have achieved something," said Kohli.

Kohli anchored India's run chase of 239 as the visitors defeated Sri Lanka by six wickets at the R. Premdasa Stadium on Sunday, thereby clinching a clean-sweep in the five-match ODI series.

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First Published: Sep 04 2017 | 11:42 AM IST

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