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So the real question isn't "can anyone get to 52?" It is: Is there any next-gen batter who can live in the same postcode, wherever Kohli finally stops? The moving mountain Start with the basics. Virat Kohli has 52 ODI hundreds from roughly 294 innings - a century about once every 5.6 innings, while averaging close to 58. Tendulkar, the previous record-holder, needed over 9 innings per ton; Rohit Sharma sits at 8 innings for one hundred. Kohli scores hundreds far more frequently than other all-time greats and does a huge chunk of it in chases. If he plays another 15-25 ODI innings across this cycle, even with normal later-career form, 3-5 more centuries is a realistic band. A hot streak could push that higher. That puts his likely finishing range somewhere in the mid-50s. To beat that, a younger batter needs three things to land together:

• 250-300 ODI innings in a shrinking format
• A century rate in the Kohli range or better
• 15-18 years of high-intensity international cricket without being rotated out of ODIs

That's the bar. Gill, Babar, and the rest vs that bar