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
Former Australian skipper Ian Chappell believes Indian captain Virat Kohli would surpass the batting greats like West Indies legend Viv Richards, Indian batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar and explosive South African batsman AB de Villiers.
Drawing comparisons between Viv Richards and Kohli in their batting approach, Chappell wrote, “Kohli reminds me of Richards in his approach to ODI batting; he eschews fancy shots and relies on a wide range of traditional strokes … As the only one of this quartet still playing ODIs, Kohli already heads some important statistical categories.”
Chappell wrote this in his column for ESPN, talking about the ‘best ODI batsman’ debate. The Australian also feels if Kohli continues to shatter the records at the speed he is going the Indian skipper would break Tendulkar’s record of most number of centuries in the international cricket.
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The 30-year-old Indian captain has scored 64 International centuries (Test- 25, ODI-39, T20-0), and he is now only behind former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting (71 centuries) and Tendulkar (100 centuries) in terms of the maximum number of centuries in the world cricket.
“If he were to continue at his current rate – an unlikely outcome as he ages – he would pass Tendulkar’s aggregate with more than one hundred innings to spare and nearly 20 centuries in advance of the Little Master,” Chappell insisted.
A smile is the best way to unwind. 😊 pic.twitter.com/w8RoT6udd3
— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) January 21, 2019
Chappell also insisted that if Virat Kohli would manage to achieve “these amazing feats”, he would end his career as the ‘Sir Donald Bradman of ODI’.
“If he even came close to achieving these amazing feats, there could be no argument: Kohli would be the Sir Donald Bradman of ODI batsmen.”
Meanwhile, Kohli, who is also the fastest to 19,000 international runs, is just 10 centuries short of equalling Tendulkar’s record 49 centuries in the limited overs game.
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