 To the Sports Mike zone we turn our focus now to cricket and the men's 50 over World Cup hosts India are through to the final after beating New Zealand by 70 runs in the first semi-final at the Wankaya Stadium earlier on Wednesday. After electing to bat India posted 397 for four from their 50 overs with Virat Kohli top scoring of 117 his 50th ODI century which is the most by any player. Kohli got support from Shreys Ayer who smashed 105 the quickest 100 in a World Cup semi-final that came off 67 balls. Tim Southey was the pick of the New Zealand bowlers with three for 100. New Zealand in reply were dismissed for 327 in 48.5 overs Maddamat Mohamed Shami backing 74.57 to counter Daryl Mitchell's brilliant 134. Australia and South Africa will contest the second semi-final on Thursday with a championship match set for Sunday. One of the biggest takeaways from today's semi-final is Virat Kohli breaking Sachin Dendulkar's record for the most ODI hundreds. It took Dendulkar 451 innings to notch 49 centuries while it has taken Kohli 279 innings to reach 50. So the debate intensifies is Virat Kohli a better ODI player than Dendulkar. A quick look at their ODI record suggests Kohli is a clear winner but not everything boils down to statistics. Kohli there 279 innings, 1300 794 runs and Dendulkar from 452 innings significantly more batting performances from Dendulkar 18426. So joining us now to add to this discussion is international cricket correspondent Fazir Mohamed Faz, two jans in India's batting history Sachin Dendulkar widely regarded as the master but is Virat Kohli based on his statistics beginning to enter the conversation? I would say he's entered the conversation quite some time ago Lance and even if he never got to a 50th ODI international hundred you mentioned some of those numbers there the pace at which he got to the 50th ODI international century Dendulkar would have spent quite a lot of this time at the top of the order for India and yes when you're comparing these individuals you're comparing truly great players and therefore because we're talking about the one day format in this particular instance I would have to say that even before he got to that 50th ODI which he might have gotten earlier because remember he had a couple of chances earlier in this World Cup to get to hundreds and missed out for different reasons but I would say yes when you look at every aspect of it not just the numbers but the ability of Kohli to take his team to victory the way he plays the game the way he he rallies players around him he energizes the person he's batting with just the way that he plays I think in many different levels apart from the numbers as well I would say that that Kohli is ahead of the game when it comes to comparisons in one day cricket with Sachin Dendulkar Yeah I hear you emphasizing one day cricket because we're just talking about the 50 over format because overall as a batsman maybe people wouldn't consider the gap or the discussion as as riveting would it I think that's where it becomes more complicated it's the same as saying well you know everyone talks about Dendulkar and Kohli but if you really want to talk about the greatest in the batsman it's Sunil Gavaskar because of the amount of runs he made who he made them against the quality of the opposition the weakness of India but again he didn't play much one day cricket didn't play any T20 cricket so so that's why it's always difficult comparing eras and when you talk about Dendulkar what a test career that span 1989 to 2013 and then you bring in Virat Kohli 2010 to the present time different eras different times you could talk about India being a very strong team now you could talk about Dendulkar being part of a batting lineup that included Sehwag who's just made the Hall of Fame, VVS Lakshman, Surabh Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and so many more so there are many different variables to it so I think it gets much more complicated when you bring in the test element or even the leadership element because again Dendulkar wasn't considered a particularly good leader we saw that right in the Caribbean in 1997 in contrast Kohli seems to bring the best out of his players in whatever format so yes there are many different variables but I suppose for what is worth we're discussing the 50 over format this time yeah and I guess Sachin gave up the captaincy as well because he just recognized that he wasn't that wasn't his thing he just wanted to concentrate on his batting you just put Sunil Gavaskar on a pedestal there fast and I don't want to depart too much from this current ODI discussion but I remember Michael holding on several occasions suggesting that he thought that Sunil Gavaskar was overrated because I think personally of the kind of success he and his four prong western space attack had against Sunil Gavaskar in history not that he didn't score against them but I've heard Michael holding suggest that Gavaskar was overrated I'm not sure if you heard the great whispering deaths say that and I understand that perspective because when you look at Gavaskar's 1300s against the West Indies when he had that first series in 1971 there were no four fast bowlers at the time you are Yutn Dao van Ben Holder a few others who were just were just there thereabouts then 1976 it was Michael holding Andy Roberts the great quartets only came into being in the latter half of the 1970s Gavaskar scored 400s against the West Indies in 78-79 when all of the top fast bowlers were playing carry pack of cricket but there was a Michael Marshall just coming on to the scene Sylvester Clark was part of it but they were emerging cricketers and again there's always that argument about home empires because once more when Gavaskar in 1983-84 where the West Indies won that series 3-0 got a hundred of 94 bowls the West Indies were convinced that they've gotten it more than once then later on in that series batting at number four he got 236 the highest score by an Indian at that time and again the West Indies were convinced that they had in earlier on in the course of that innings but yes I understand that point but again when you look at the number of runs he scored overall not just against the West Indies averaging over 50 in a very difficult era for batsmen no helmets and all that sort of thing I think Gavaskar must be in the consideration yeah all right um just to quickly go back to the the the Sachin and Virat Kohli comparison because generally speaking although the stats are suggesting here that in all the cricket Kohli has to get the nod we do get the feeling that because Sachin Tendulkar is so highly regarded and and embraced as as the the little little master a lot of it is is emotional from some of Sachin's fans who wouldn't want to get into any discussion about anyone challenging the little master indeed and you can understand why because Tendulkar was loved for so long remember he came on to the scene as a 16 year old the same test mark that Wakar Yunis made his test in Karachi 1989 two outstanding cricketers and played all the way until 2013 and when you recall the emotion of India winning the World Cup in India at the one kidney stadium where the semi-final was just played the beating Sri Lanka and it seemed there was all about winning for Sachin Virat Kohli said it you've got same said it almost everyone in the team Mahendra Singh Dhoni it was almost all about doing it for Sachin Tendulkar and you again you can understand why usually when a play of that stature like a Viv Richards for example when when they leave the scene that stature grows it's almost it becomes almost godlike which might sound sacrilegious to many but the fact is that the thing is that Sachin Tendulkar can do no more no wrong anymore his numbers are there Virat Kohli is still out there and remember Virat Kohli was disliked by many for a very abrasive way which actually the riches admired and you can understand why as well because of the way they play the game so yes the fact that Tendulkar is looking on almost with a halo around him while Kohli does these great things for many it will be almost an offense to suggest that Kohli is displacing Tendulkar from the top of the pedestal but that's what the game is about that's what sport is all about yeah I'm always appreciate your input in the show the genius Fazir Mohammed Faiz we'll talk again soon because the South Africa Australia match tomorrow is expected to be gripping and then the final whatever happens this weekend will also be memorable I think we'll talk again soon back with more on the zone after this