Virat Kohli is set to become only the second player to play 100 matches in all three forms of international cricket.
This comes as Virat Kohli prepares to return to the Indian team unit for the upcoming Asia Cup 2022 tournament which begins on August 27 in the UAE and India plays Pakistan in their first match on August 28 in Dubai.
Kohli has not been in the best of forms for the past three years as he has gone more than 1000 days without an international century to his name and recently has struggled to even touch the 50-run mark. This led to him taking a break from cricket as he was rested for the West Indies and Zimbabwe tours.
In a chat with News9, Labuschagne was asked about how cricketers recover from such rough patches. The right-handed batter responded by saying, for Virat, 'class is permanent'.
"In terms of Virat, like I said class is permanent. He is an amazing player. And you know I am sure over the next few years he is going to score plenty of runs and score some hundreds, hopefully not against Australia (laughs). But he is a very good player. People are entitled to their opinions on form and one thing is for sure he has been a very good player for the last 10 years and I can't see it is going to change," he said.
Adding to this, Marnus said that in the case of Kohli, he doesn’t have any doubts over his game at present as he has still got that 'classic confidence' when he walks out on the field.
"Yeah absolutely. Every player struggles with doubt at some point. I can't speak for those guys specifically just because I am not them. Doubts are just part of the game. It is about trusting your skills, and your preparations. You want to make sure you are trusting the way you play. Yes, there are going to be doubts and you want to show that confidence in your game.
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Looking at Virat, it doesn't look like he is lacking that on the field. He has still got that classic Virat confidence when he walks out. And I feel that is what is important, trying to soak yourself at the crease and trusting your game," he said.
Virat Kohli will become only the second cricketer in the world to play 100 or more matches in all three formats of international cricket when he takes the field on August 28 against Pakistan. The only player to achieve this treble is New Zealand’s Ross Taylor.
(News9 inputs)