Former Indian captain Mohammed Azharuddin heaped praises on current skipper Virat Kohli. He said Kohli “is way ahead of many great players as far as his consistency is concerned.”
Making a prediction about Virat Kohli’s career, Azharuddin said the Indian skipper would score 100 international hundreds if he managed to stay fit for the rest of his career.
On Tuesday, during India’s second ODI against Australia at the Adelaide Cricket Ground, Virat Kohli smashed his record 39th ODI century as Men-in-Blue successfully chased down the target of 299 runs. With India’s win, the ongoing three-match ODI series has been set perfectly for the finale on Friday at Melbourne Cricket Ground.
“Virat Kohli’s consistency is very good. If he stays fit, he will reach the 100-century mark. He is way ahead of many great players as far as his consistency is concerned. He is a great player and India have hardly lost whenever he has scored a century,” Azharuddin, who played 99 Test matches for India, told Aaj Tak.
The 55-year-old also praised former Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Speaking about second ODI, Azhar said the innings of Virat Kohli and then Dinesh Karthik helped Dhoni finish off things.
“If you look at the trend whenever India’s top three score runs, we go on to win the match. Unfortunately, in the previous match we lost three early wickets, Rohit Sharma did score a century but we lost. But today, Virat Kohli batted extremely well and MS Dhoni too played well. Dhoni even got tired in the end but he kept his wicket intact. Dinesh Karthik also batted well. Overall, India’s performance was very good,” Azhar said.
Meanwhile, Australian coach Justin Langer sought to draw comparisons between Virat Kohli’s impact on international cricket to what India’s batting great Sachin Tendulkar had in his prime.
“Virat is doing the same thing. He is so calm and so competitive, and technically his balance is unbelievable. For him to play 360-degree shots in all formats of the game, his balance is unbelievable,” Langer was quoted as saying after the match.