Even as we wait to watch the legendary Sachin Tendulkar set the stage on fire one last time when he takes guard at the Wankhede Stadium in his landmark 200th Test match, we are currently witnessing the rise of another phenomenal batsman, Virat Kohli. The young No.3 batsman has been stepping up and delivering whenever Team India is in a precarious situation. The youngster has already pushed the pundits to draw comparisons with some of the greatest batsmen that have held centre stage and he has also kept the statisticians busy as he keeps setting new records.

The Delhi lad, who has always said that he enjoys chases, slammed a whirlwind century at Jaipur in Game 2 off 52 deliveries and broke Virender Sehwag's Indian record of scoring an ODI ton off 60 balls. A loss and two washed out games later, with India 1-2 down in the series, he came up with a match-winning 115 not-out to level the series in Game 6, and in the process he became the fastest to score 17 ODI centuries – off 112 innings.

Kohli is now making a habit of breaking records, and is following on the footsteps of his idol, Sachin Tendulkar, who set several benchmarks and rewrote the record books during a career spanning almost two and a half decades.

While speaking to the media in Bengaluru, upon being told that his innings reminded one of Tendulkar’s memorable twin ODI centuries in Sharjah in 1998, the batsman humbly replied, “He has been my inspiration. After seeing those two knocks in Sharjah, was the time when I got inspired to do something like that for India – win games single-handedly. I used to dream of doing something like that for the country – the way he used to win us games. I wouldn’t sit and think that I have done something similar, because at that time I don’t think anyone else in the team scored apart from him in those two games. But now we have so many talented batsmen in the squad who have given us great starts. Shikhar (Dhawan) and Rohit (Sharma) have been brilliant at the top, which has given me a good platform to go and express myself properly. I think credit has to go to everyone for these wins.”

Speaking about his knocks, Kohli, who has received high praise even from the likes of the great Sunil Gavaskar, said, “It’s been good so far. I never expected I would get a 100 in 50 or another in 60 balls. I have just followed my instincts and backed my ability to go out there and execute my shots. And that has worked for me. And I realise that and I am not getting too far ahead of myself. I know my strengths and weaknesses as well. I just react to whatever the situation is and what the team requires me to do. I have been fortunate that I have been able to bat like that in those two games while chasing big totals. And if a situation like that arises again, probably I will have the same mindset. But as I said, seeing the situation, I tried to alter my game and so far I have been happy with what I have done. But as I said, it’s an unfinished job and hopefully I can do the same.”

Speaking about Tendulkar’s impending last series – the forthcoming two-Test series against West Indies – he said, “Yes, there will be extra effort for sure. Giving him a perfect farewell would be the aim for all of us. You will definitely see us putting in a bit more extra effort to pull those two games off. That will be our aim.”