Former India crickter VVS Laxman has heaped praises on Virat Kohli and said that the Indian captain had been playing with the same intensity that he had on his debut in 2008.

“I think, the way he has played in each and every series, the kind of intensity he has maintained each and every day, when he’s on the cricket field is unbelievable, because at some stage I thought that will be the biggest challenge for Virat Kohli, at some stages he will burn out, but not even once we have seen that energy drop down when Virat is on the cricket field, whether he is batting or he is fielding,” Laxman said while speaking on Star Sports show Cricket Connected.

Laxman said one of the great things about Kohli has been his ability to perform under pressure. The 32-year-old has scored 26 of his 42 ODI centuries while chasing.

“…if you see his one-day record how many hundreds did he get while chasing and then you know that you’ve got a target to achieve, there’s always a scoreboard pressure on him, but he relishes pressure, he relishes responsibility and that’s what gets the best out of him,” said Laxman.

Virat Kohli on Wednesday overtook Sachin Tendulkar to become the fastest batsman to score 12,000 ODI runs. He achieved the feat during the final ODI of the three-match series against Australia at the Manuka Oval.

Kohli took 242 innings to reach the landmark, while legendary Tendulkar had required 300 innings. Kohli averages close to 60 in the ODI format which he has dominated over the years.

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting comes third on the list having achieved the feat in 314 innings. Ponting is closely followed by former Sri Lanka skippers Kumar Sangakkara, Sanath Jayasuriya,l and Mahela Jayawardene who had taken 336, 379 and 399 innings respectively.

Kohli has also played 86 Tests and 82 T20Is in which he has scored 7,240 and 2,794 runs respectively. In total, he has hit 70 centuries (27 in Tests and 43 in ODIs).

However,
Kohli will end the year 2020 as one in which he failed to score a single century in One-Day Internationals for the first time since his debut year in 2008. This is also the first time since 2008 that Kohli has featured in less than 10 ODIs in a calendar year.

Over the years, the talismanic Indian batsman has built himself into the sole challenger to Sachin Tendulkar’s ODI records, especially the number of centuries. While the former India batsman scored 49 centuries in his stellar career, Kohli is just six short of the mark at 43.

Team India, who lost the ODI series 1-2, will now look to seek revenge against Australia in the three-match T20I series against beginning Friday at the Manuka Oval in Canberra.