Virat Kohli is arguably the best one-day batsmen going around in the world. He has reached the heights that no cricketer achieved before in this stage of their career. The thing which is most impressive about Kohli is his hunger for runs and the way he concentrates when he comes into bat. Even with 13 ODI hundred behind his back, whenever he comes out to bat he is ready to grind and gives respect to good balls, he settles in and then forces the issue.
Kohli has been in great one-day form and that has reflected in the ICC ODI rankings, Kohli, who entered the Sri Lanka series as the third-ranked ODI batsman, has moved up one position to second following his player of the series performance in which he scored 296 runs. The former India U19 captain, who led his side to victory in the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2008 in Malaysia, also achieved a career-best rating of 866 after the fourth ODI in which he scored 128 not out in India’s six wickets victory.
Kohli is only behind South Africa’s Hashmi Amla by 13 ratings points and the way he is batting he can reduce the margin pretty quickly.
In his four years of international career Kohli has proved that he is class apart and has in him which could give him that extra mileage. He plays with conviction and does not get intimidated by anything and lets his bat do the talking.
Kohli is fiery yet calm at the same time and his temperament makes him a player of different league. He does not crumble under pressure, and for the records, his best innings have come under pressure.
He has proved that he is a big match player and has it in him to take responsibility to finish the match. He is a good hitter of the ball, knows exactly what to do and when. He is also a brisk run scorer and scores at a good rate and actually puts the opposition under pressure.
So, Kohli has achieved a lot and the next challenge that this young sensation will face in his career will be Test cricket. Kohli was drafted into the Test side, but was dropped after his poor run in West Indies.
Suresh Raina was preferred over him in the England Test series which turned out to be the horrible one for the left-hander. Raina’s loss proved out to be Kohli’s gain as he was picked for the series Down Under.
In the first two matches Kohli struggled and it looked that he will be dropped once again. But it was the third Test match in Perth that changed around things for Kohli. He made a beautiful half-century and looked pretty comfortable playing on the fastest pitch of the world.
The Adelaide Test saw Kohli score his maiden Test ton. Scoring runs is considered to be the most challenging task for any batsmen, Kohli not only was the only Indian to have a Test hundred on tour but he also was the highest run-scorer for India in the series.
Rahul Dravid’s retirement has left a huge vacuum in the Indian batting and, if there is any batsman that has a chance of filling that gap is Virat Kohli. India have tried many players from Yuvraj Singh to Suresh Raina in the Test squad but they all have disappointed. Rohit Sharma is struggling to maintain his place in one-day team, so when India will take on New Zealand in a couple of weeks it is most likely that we will see Virat Kohli bat at number three.
Kohli should play well against the Kiwis because they have one of the weakest bowling attacks, but his true challenge will come when he will face the likes of James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Dale Steyn and others in the coming year. Kohli knows how to punish the white ball, but will he be able to negotiate the red cherry, only time will tell.
By Indian Sports News Network
