India skipper Virat Kohli is no less than a monster when it becomes to batsmanship across all three formats of the game. Kohli recently surpassed Australian batting legend Ricky Ponting’s tally of 30 ODI hundreds and in the list of highest century maker in One-Day International cricket, he is now only behind his idol Sachin Tendulkar, who is comfortably placed at the pinnacle with 49 tons.
During the recently concluded three-match Test series against Sri Lanka, Virat amassed 610 runs at an incredible average of 152.50, including two double centuries. In the process, Kohli also surpassed the West Indian batting legend Brian Lara (5) as the skipper with most Test double hundreds. Remarkably, the Delhi lad became the only batsman in the history of the game to amass more than 2,500 runs on two successive calendar years. With 2,818 runs to his name in 2017, Kohli just finished 50 runs behind Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara's record of most number of international runs in a calendar year.
Seeing Indian captain’s batting prowess in recent times, legendary Pakistan bowler Wasim Akram has stated that he would have loved to bowl at Virat Kohli given his attacking mindset. He also cited examples of great batsmen like Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, who used to give absolutely nothing to the bowlers with their watertight techniques.
“I would definitely have loved to bowl to Virat Kohli because it would be so much fun. Kohli is very aggressive and if somebody is aggressive, I always think I have a chance to get him. If you bowl at a solid player like Rahul Dravid, you might not get a chance. Kohli might hammer you but you could still have a chance to get his wicket. Sachin Tendulkar wasn’t that aggressive, especially in Test cricket; he picked his bowlers and picked his situations. Kohli with 32 one-day hundreds is definitely the player of the new era. India has a gem in Kohli,” Wasim Akram told Gulf News.
Talking about his favorite scalp in international cricket, Akram without any hesitation named the great Indian opener Sunil Gavaskar. The former left-arm pacer also mentioned that Gavaskar had the finest technique that any opening batsman could ever have.
“My prize wicket will remain Sunil Gavaskar, one of the greatest openers. If anyone is keen to learn proper batting technique, then one should watch Gavaskar who batted without helmet and always right on top (of the ball),” concluded Wasim.
