India talisman Virat Kohli ended an over 1200-day wait for a hundred in One-Day Internationals when he brought up his 44th century in the 50-over format in the side's comprehensive victory against Bangladesh in the third ODI in Chattogram on Saturday. The ton made him the second-highest century-maker in international cricket with the legendary Sachin Tendulkar occupying the top spot with 100 hundreds across formats. While Virat Kohli was tipped to break Sachin Tendulkar's world record when he was compiling hundreds for fun during his dominant run before a three-year drought brought that discussion to end. But the debate reignited following his three-figure score against Bangladesh with some cricket pundits backing him to go past Sachin Tendulkar. But ex-Pakistan captain Rashid Latif thinks that even if Virat Kohli matches or surpasses Sachin Tendulkar's feat, it won't change anything for Indian cricket.

Pointing out the dark side of Virat Kohli's run-scoring landmarks, Rashid Latif declared that after Team India's decade of poor performances in ICC events, the Men in Blue desperately need to win a global title soon. That's why Virat Kohli's tons don't matter as such because he has been unable to power India to an ICC trophy during his glory years with the bat.

Rashid Latif claimed that Indian cricket has reached a precarious stage as the national team has left the fans disappointed on multiple occasions in the last 10 years – missing out on multiple World titles, particularly in the last five-six years.

India lost in the semifinals of the 2016 and 2022 T20I World Cups as well as the 2015 and 2019 ODI World Cups. In addition to that, they also failed to lift the maiden World Test Championship title last year, losing to Kane Williamson's New Zealand in the final in England.

This is among the prime reasons, Rashid Latif feels Virat Kohli's hundreds will count for nothing if he isn't able to help Team India achieve their ultimate goal of lifting an ICC crown.

“It is not the time to count the number of centuries. It doesn't matter. They need to win a title. It has been years since India won a trophy. Whether Kohli scores 100 centuries or 200, it doesn't matter, what matters to Indian cricket and the fans is a title. If you look financially, IPL and Indian cricket are far ahead, but now there is pressure from the fans and the media that they want a title. Kohli can score 100 centuries if he wants, but the demand has changed. The Asia Cup is gone, so is Champions Trophy, the 2019 World Cup, the last two T20 World Cups. 100 centuries has its own place, but India and the Indian cricket board needs to win a title,” Rashid Latif said on his YouTube channel.

Earlier this year, Virat Kohli ended his international century drought, which started in November 2019, reaching the three-figure mark against Afghanistan in the Asia Cup. It was his maiden T20I hundred and 71st overall.

Remarkably, Virat Kohli brought his long wait for an international hundred under the captaincy of KL Rahul, and interestingly, the latter was leading the Men in Blue on Saturday as well. Before he made 113 runs off 91 balls against Bangladesh, Virat Kohli had scored an ODI hundred in August 2019.

The innings moved Virat Kohli into the second spot among the men with the most international hundreds. While Ricky Ponting has 71 centuries to his name across formats, the legendary Sachin Tendulkar occupies the Numero Uno position with 100 international tons.

Moreover, Virat Kohli with 44 ODI hundreds stands only five behind Sachin Tendulkar's world record of 49 in the 50-over format and 28 behind him in terms of international centuries.

Meanwhile, former India cricketers Ajit Agarkar and Ajay Jadeja heaped rich praise on Virat Kohli, pointing out that his consistency has been just remarkable.

The two retired players said that reaching 72 centuries in international cricket wasn't a mean task and Virat Kohli should be credited for raising the bar for the current generation of players with his insane numbers across formats.

“Only God (Sachin Tendulkar) is ahead. This is a milestone that cannot be achieved in one day. You can do what Ishan Kishan did in one day, or score a triple century, but to score 72 centuries is amazing. Consistency is his name,” Ajay Jadeja told Sony Sports.

“I think Ishan Kishan's innings helped him a lot. He will definitely send something to Litton Das because very few times such catches are dropped in international cricket, but you also have to remember that he took a brilliant catch in the first game. He could take his time today. An early wicket had fallen, so he had the time. The pitch kept on improving. The fluency came in later, there is no doubt that it was a struggle at the start but Ishan Kishan had removed the pressure from him,” Ajit Agarkar concluded.