Virat Kohli is having a time of his life. He is playing some greats knocks and is looking the best batsman on display not only from India but throughout the world. His hundred against Sri Lanka and then against Pakistan will be remembered for a long time and will always be discussed whenever someone will talk about the greatest innings by any Indian batsmen. The elegant right hander from Delhi is in the form of his life and that is people have started comparing him with the batting great Sachin Tendulkar.
There have been a lot of batsmen in the past that has been compared with the batting maestro but this young lad had seriously achieved the feat that he deserves to be compared with the all-time greats. Kohli till now has played 85 one days, and the interesting fact is that no batsmen had a better record than him at this stage. And the list of the batsmen have names like Brian Lara, Ricky Ponting, Dean Jones, M S Dhoni, Michael Bevan, and even Sachin Tendulkar and Vivian Richards.
Kohli is sitting pretty with 11 hundreds to his name, in similar matches two of the modern greats, Lara and Ponting scored five hundreds. Only Dhoni and the flamboyant West Indian Viv Richards precede Kohli in terms of strike-rate at the 85 match mark. He is only behind Michael Bevan in terms of average and is replicating what Bevan did so well for the Australians-finishing the matches.
He has scored three hundreds in the past four matches that he has played and in two of them he did the unthinkable, he was very close to become the third Indian to join the 200 runs club against Pakistan and going by the way he is demolishing every bowler that comes his way will achieve that as well.
The one blemish that he had against his name was his record in the Test matches. He corrected that as well in the recently concluded Australian Test series as he was the only Indian batsman to have a century against his name. He handled the Australian quickies with tremendous ease and confidence and took the challenge head-on.
There are a lot of qualities that Kohli possesses that can make him great players, let’s discuss some of those.
Tremendous hand-eye coordination: Like his Delhi partner Virendra Sehwag, Kohli also possess the lethal hand-eye coordination. The way he whips the ball through mid-wicket area is a treat to watch. His back-foot cover drives can see a tough of Lara in it and the follow through can give any West Indian a run for their money.
The time he has in his hand: Every great player has a lot of time before he plays a shot. Same is the case with Kohli as he never looks hurried. The way he handled the Australian fast bowlers in Perth proved that. In what is considered to be the fastest pitch in the world Kohli played with enormous calm and let the ball hit his bat.
The flamboyance he carries: If Sachin, Lara, Ponting and Viv Richards have something in common (apart from their great records) it’s the flamboyance with the way they bat. There were times when this batsman virtually toyed with the opponent bowlers. Kohli in his recent innings has showed the same things. Kohli plays with a natural flair and looks to dominate the bowlers from the word go. If he is on the crease than one thing is for sure that he will be the man who will be dominating the game.
The approach he has toward the game: Virat Kohli knows only one thing, if he is going out to bat; he is going there to win the match for his country. The way he celebrates his success might not be right, but it shows how much it means to him. Kohli gives his 100 percent all the time and it looks like that he takes win or loss personally and it shows in his performance.
If the new Indian vice-captain continues to play the way he has been playing than the time is not far when these comparisons will change from an illusion to a reality.
Indian Sports News
