Kumar Sangakkara, Sri Lanka’s cricket legend and President of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), has showered rich praise on India captain Virat Kohli, saying the modern-day great has potential to be the greatest after Sir Don Bradman.
Bradman is regarded as the greatest batsman of all-time, averaging 99.94 in Test cricket – the highest ever by any batsman which is unlikely to be surpassed by any batsmen in the near future. The Australian greats also holds several other records that defines his legacy.
On the other hand, the dashing right-hander Kohli is arguably the greatest modern-day batsman and even he has been dominating the batting chart as well as the most consistent batsman across the formats over the years since making international debut in 2008.
Even now, Kohli is scoring runs like a cakewalk doing it day in and day out at an incredible consistency – which earned him credentials as one of the modern-day greats and all-time greats.
He has already hit a staggering 70 centuries and 104 half-centuries in international cricket while averages above 50 in all three formats presently. Kohli is the sixth-highest ODI run-getter in the all-time list with his tally of 11867 runs, while has over 7000 Test runs and 2794 T20Is runs to his name.
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Impressing by Kohli’s fitness and impressive commitment and dedication towards the game, Sangakkara went a step ahead as he has paid the ultimate tribute to India’s batting.
Sangakkara said on The RK Show hosted by sports broadcaster Radhakrishnan Srinivasan: “Virat is phenomenally fit. I know, and I have seen and heard of his amazing commitment and dedication to being the best that he can be, both on and off the field – physically, mentally and skill-wise. He has the opportunity to become maybe the greatest after the Don.”
Former Sri Lanka captain signed off by saying, “He’s a rare breed among cricketers. Inspiration wise, one of the best I’ve ever watched in my life, across every format. What I like the most about Virat is his passion, his personality and the fact that he is not scared to show his emotions visible on the field - whether he’s captaining the side or he’s just fighting a line battle, trying to get India to win. He’s an old-fashioned cricketer. Not too many high-fancy shots, but deadly effective.”
(With Times Now Inputs)
