India batter Virat Kohli is showing shades of his form in 2016 ever since he returned from a one-month break in the Asia Cup 2022. Starting with his maiden T20I century against Afghanistan, the former India captain is back to scoring buckets of runs.
Since then, he played an amazing knock against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup 2022, where he scored 4 half-centuries and was the highest run-getter. Then he scored a century against Bangladesh in the third and final ODI and scored two more in three ODIs against Sri Lanka recently.
He scored a mammoth 166* in 110 balls with 13 fours and 8 sixes in the third and final ODI against the Lankans, helping India to 390 runs. India won the match by a record 317 runs and clinched the series 3-0 and Kohli was named the Player of the Series.
Former Pakistan skipper and batter Salman Butt was in awe of Kohli's fitness and he feels that the India batter is no less than the like of star Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo.
"He's not less than any Ronaldo of any game. Among all the top fitness freaks sportsmen around the world, he stands right up there. His dedication to fitness is amazing. I think Virat Kohli is back to his best, maybe back to his normal. He used to score plenty of runs and hundreds consistently.
The way he plays ODI cricket is the absolute way of playing in the format. You make a steady start, play ball-by-ball, put away bad balls and score run on good deliveries. Once fully set, he was consistently able to hit it over the boundary easily. There was a low-risk factor. This shows how much control he has over the game when he is on the song,” said Butt in a video posted on his YouTube channel.
If Butt compared Kohli with Ronaldo, former Sri Lankan all-rounder Farveez Maharoof said that if Lionel Messi is the GOAT of football, then Kohli is the same in cricket.
"If Lionel Messi is the GOAT in football, it's Virat Kohli for me in international cricket," former Sri Lanka allrounder Farveez Maharoof said on ESPNCricinfo’s show Match Day.
This was Kohli's 46th ODI ton and 74th international century, putting him second behind only Sachin Tendulkar.
