Virat Kohli As Ruthless As Viv Richards, Says Former West Indies Captain
Virat Kohli has been grabbing all the headlines after some scintillating performances for India in the ongoing ODI series in South Africa. The Indian captain has already struck two centuries in the three ODIs played so far, helping the visitors take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the six-match series. Following his 34th ODI century, the likes of Michael Clarke and David Warner showered praise on the Indian skipper and now former West Indies captain Alvin Kallicharran has spoken highly of Kohli and believes the Indian run machine is as ruthless as Windies great Sir Vivian Richards.
“The attitude is strong in both. I am one person who wouldn’t like to compare players. But Kohli’s attitude is as ruthless as Viv’s was,” Kallicharan told Times of India.
Kallicharan was all praise for Kohli’s hunger for runs and dubbed him a phenomenon.
“Kohli seems to have some of those qualities. He is a successful captain. As a batsman, he is a phenomenon. Always hungry. His consistency is tremendous,” said the former Windies skipper.
“He (Kohli) looks like a very determined chap. Determination means you can make your own decisions. I don’t think India would ever have a captain like that. Except perhaps Kapil Dev. Kapil used to take decisions on his own and he was an exciting cricketer. Kohli now has brought a new brand of captaincy. (He’s) somebody who says ‘I will play with five batsmen or five bowlers’ and sticks to that. Virat Kohli is not an orthodox.”
Kohli ended the year 2017 with the most runs in ODI cricket, notching up a mammoth 1,460 runs in 26 matches at an average 76.84 and a strike rate of 99.11. He had six hundreds and seven half-centuries. And it seems Kohli has started 2018 from where he left off.
After starting the ODI series with a brilliant century in Durban, Kohli notched his second of the ongoing series with a scintillating 160 not out off 159 balls.
Kohli’s knock ended up being the highest individual score by an Indian batsman against South Africa in South Africa, going past Sourav Ganguly’s 127 at Johannesburg in 2001.
The Indian skipper’s second highest ODI score helped India completely blow away the hosts in the third ODI as the visitors took an unassailable 3-0 lead.
Kohli also became the first Indian batsman to score a hundred against South Africa at Newlands. Only Ganguly previously had an ODI century at this ground, but that came against Kenya in March 2003.
Records kept tumbling as his innings progressed. He also became the Indian ODI captain with most hundreds to his name.
