IND v WI 2018: Sunil Gavaskar hails Virat Kohli as the best in the world across all formats 

Kohli registered his 24th Test century in the first Test against West Indies at Rajkot.

Virat notched up his 24th Test ton at Rajkot against West Indies | Getty

Having seen him score another ton at the International level with his dominating 139 against the West Indies at Rajkot and continue the fantastic run of form, from the tours of South Africa and England, former batting great Sunil Gavaskar has said that Indian Captain Virat Kohli is the best batsman in the world, across all formats of the game. 

Virat not only completed 1,000 runs from just 9 Tests this year, but he also became the second fastest behind Sir Don Bradman to reach 24 Test hundreds. 

"Virat Kohli is the best batsman across formats in the modern era. He is by far the best batsman in the world," the legend was quoted saying on India Today, "The way he applies himself is hard to describe. It is beyond a phenomenon. If only the West Indies batsmen took a leaf out of his book."

"On Thursday, he was not very smooth to start off with perhaps because he was coming back after a break. Then he was in cruise control. Despite the heat, he ran hard not just for himself but also for his batting partner at the other end," he added. 

Meanwhile, Gavaskar also expressed disappointment over the lack of grit and fight shown by the visiting West Indies team in the ongoing Test and said, "This is not the best of West Indian sides we have seen from the past. But we must not forget Indian teams have also been beaten inside three days in the past. Their batting approach was a little hard to understand. Nobody was ready to buckle down."

"Yes Kraigg Braithwaite got a peach of a delivery but the other batsmen looked like they wanted to hit their way out of trouble," he added, "It pains you a little bit to see West Indies this way. I hope they will get back to being very, very competitive like they were in the past."

In reply to India's first innings score of 649-9, the West Indies got bowled out for just 181 and has now been asked to follow-on. 

 
 

By Kashish Chadha - 06 Oct, 2018

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