India’s star batter Virat Kohli has impressed one and all with his exploits in the ongoing Cricket World Cup. The right-hander has registered scores of 85, 55*, 16, 103*, 95 and 0 in six innings so far.
Lauding his heroics, former South Africa skipper Graeme Smith on Monday (October 30) showered Kohli with a rich compliment, saying that the latter exceeds the legendary Sachin Tendulkar with the quality that he has produced right through his international career.
Notably, Kohli is just two hundreds away from breaking Tendulkar's astonishing record of 49 ODI centuries.
"Virat's career has been incredible. But I think when you dig into his one-day stats and record, it is mind blowing. I think the quality that he has produced right through his international career, in my opinion, he exceeds Sachin,” Smith said in an interview with ANI.
“He is brilliant, in particular with chase. The way he controls chases. His ability to play one day game no matter what the situation is around him and he is a key figure along with Rohit Sharma at the top of the order in terms of managing pressure as the tournament goes on and how well they play with the bat and just a superstar. I mean there is so much said about Virat Kohli but I don't think that enough gets made about how insane is Virat Kohli's ODI record. His one-day record is mind-blowing," he added.
Team India are leading the World Cup 2023 points table, having won all six matches so far. The Men in Blue have defeated Australia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, New Zealand and England in their stellar campaign.
Commenting on India’s performance, Smith said: "They have not found themselves under pressure at all; they have played such good cricket. India are always strong at home but in a big event like the World Cup there is extra pressure but it doesn't seem to be impacting them. The big players are performing with both bat and ball. The only blip they have is injury to Hardik Pandya on how to balance their side but playing an extra bowler has worked well for them, They have a very attacking batting lineup and a very attacking bowling lineup. At their best, they can demolish any opposition. As expected they are a dominant opposition and a team to beat in the tournament."
Hardik Pandya sustained an ankle injury during India’s match against Bangladesh in Pune on October 19. Subsequently, he missed out on the last fixtures against New Zealand and England.
In his absence, India dropped all-rounder Shardul Thakur from the playing XI and opted to go with a specialist batter and bowler in Suryakumar Yadav and Mohammad Shami respectively.
“India are lucky that they have a Jadeja to play the role of an all-rounder as well. I think at the moment India have tried to go with more frontline bowling options and not play the extra batter. So far it is working for them. They would want him to recover well for the knockout stage but again the quality they have in the squad. Last time against England they got pushed. They just stepped up," Smith remarked.
According to Graeme Smith the current top four in the ICC World Cup 2023 points table will make it to the semifinals.
"Always tough to predict. I think in my mind. India at the top, South Africa two, New Zealand three and Australia at four. I think potentially that is going to be your potential Top-4 for the knockout stages," he concluded.
(With ANI Inputs)
