Former India captain Virat Kohli is hands down one of the greatest cricketers in the current generation given the kind of things he has achieved in his career so far.
India has produced many great cricketers in the world, but none as ambitious as Virat Kohli. To fulfill his ambition, Kohli employed the technical assiduousness of Sachin Tendulkar and fitness that was in the league of top athletes in the world, not just cricketers.
Kohli recently put on a match-winning performance at the ongoing T20 WC as he scored an unbeaten 82 off 53 balls to help India defeat Pakistan by 4 wickets.
As a result, Kohli became today’s most consistent all-format accumulator, making jaw-dropping chases look easy and, in his own words, finding the safest way to score. Most of them.
Kohli has scored Test centuries in and against every country he has played in, Barring one in Bangladesh. He completely broke the records of the number of matches it took him to reach eight, nine, ten thousand, eleven thousand and twelve thousand ODI runs.
As the Tendulkar era began to retire he was set to become India’s next great batsman, but Kohli wanted to go even further. A cricketer that the opposition fears, a cricketer whose presence can raise the intensity of the match. He lived every ball, contested every moment and made sure he had the fitness and stamina to do so.
After a few poor innings, Virat Kohli gave a timely reminder of why he belongs among the greatest with his exceptional innings against Pakistan in the “2022 T20 World Cup” at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
Many started calling Kohli the ‘GOAT’ based on his incredible career that started in 2008 and Kohli’s last innings brought back the Greatest of All Time (GOAT) debate.
While Kohli refused to call himself ‘GOAT’ during a Star Sports the official broadcaster for the ongoing T20 World Cup in Australia, The former Indian skipper made a strong statement stating that only two players in the history of the game unequivocally qualify for the ‘GOAT’ tag.
Accordingly, West Indies legend Sir Vivian Richard and India legend Sachin Tendulkar were his two greatest players of all time.
Speaking to Star Sports, the former India captain was asked about Is he greatest cricketers of all time,
“No, I wouldn’t consider myself the GOAT of cricket. For me only 2 people qualify for it. Its Sachin Tendulkar and Viv Richards.” he simply replied
Kohli and Tendulkar played together for five years and were part of the Indian team that won the 2011 World Cup. Sir Vivian Richards is a figure that Tendulkar has also spoken highly of on several occasions as having inspired him to take up cricket and a figure he admired watching in his childhood.
Right-handed batsman Sir Vivian Richard, who has represented West Indies in 308 international matches, has scored 15261 runs with a high average of 48.76. Having scored 90 fifties and 35 centuries, he has also broken 150 wickets.
Former Indian opener Sachin Tendulkar scored 164 fifties and 100 centuries in 664 international matches at an average of 48.53. Also, the Indian legend has managed to take 201 wickets as a bowler. (Some of Data from ESPNcricinfo)