Don’t write off champions: Nathan Lyon on Kohli’s recent batting slump
The Australian team must be hoping to take advantage of Virat Kohli’s prolonged batting slump when the two sides clash in the five-Test series for the Border-Gavaskar trophy
Veteran Pakistan batsman Zaheer Abbas has also joined the bandwagon of former cricketers who believe Indian captain Virat Kohli is the best batsman in world cricket and capable of shattering a few records.
Heaping praises on Kohli, Abbas said the Indian skipper would “break all records”. However, Abbas also advised cricket pundits to always keep in mind the era, conditions, and opposition while assessing a batsman.
“I think at the moment Virat is the best. He will break all the records. But not only Virat, the Indian team has other top batsmen too. If you look at Rohit Sharma, you are just delighted to watch his strokes. One can only appreciate the beauty of his strokes. The variety of strokes in possession of Indian batsmen counts a lot,” Abbas told GTV news channel.
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Kohli has so far scored 39 centuries in the limited overs game and he is only 10 short of Indian batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar’s tally of 49 centuries.
“Obviously, the confidence will come when you have so many strokes and when you know how to stay at the wicket. These skills don’t come easily. It takes time and hard work and one needs to develop a system for this,” Abbas said further.
Speaking about Pakistan and Indian team, Abbas also said that there was a time when Men-in-Green used to beat Men-in-Blue regularly but it has changed now as the neighbouring country’s cricket structure has improved a lot. Abbas also heaped praises on India’s cricket structure for creating top quality players.
“Not only their batsmen but even their bowlers. They have improved a lot and this is because their board had the foresight to set up the MRF pace academy years back and get Dennis Lillee as their first coach to help groom their pacers,” Abbas said.
“India at this moment is a top side. Their standards have improved a lot, especially after the IPL because they don’t allow their players to go and play anywhere else. They are giving so much financial security to their players.”
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