Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram has backed Virat Kohli to go past Sachin Tendulkar’s runs tally in run-chases in One-Day cricket. Kohli completed 8000 runs in ODI chases during the semifinal clash against Australia in the ongoing Champions Trophy when he scored a match-winning knock of 84 runs off just 98 balls on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Sachin Tendulkar, who is the leading run-getter in the ODI format, had scored 8720 runs in run-chases in the 50-over format, which is the most for any batter. Kohli has an impeccable average of almost 91 in successful chases in the ODI version.

Virat is well known as the chase master and he has done a majestic job for the team. The talisman paces his innings with guile in the second innings and his focus is always to take the game deep. Furthermore, Kohli rotates strike at regular intervals and he always runs hard between the sticks.

Wasim Akram said on the Pavilion Ten Sports, “Look at these all names with the highest run chasers. Sachin, Rohit, Jayasuriya and Kallis. There are the greats of the game and Kohli is definitely going to pass Sachin Tendulkar the way it looks like. Kohli’s average is only second to MS Dhoni. Dhoni got close to 100 and Kohli’s average is close to 90. That’s just phenomenal.”

On the other hand, Akram feels Australia could not post a par score on the board and it could have been a different story if they had scored 290 runs against India. 

“Josh Hazelwood, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins could not come, two were injured and one did not come due to personal reasons. But Australia did not help their cause. Like Steve Smith said, if the score was 290-300, then they would have got a chance. These two wickets of Smith and (Glenn) Maxwell made them score a below-par score.”

Kohli was able to show his class against the Aussies once again as he batted at the top of his game.

India will take on New Zealand in the summit clash of the Champions Trophy at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai on Sunday.