With Virat Kohli further enhancing his reputation as one of the greatest-ever batsmen in One-Day Internationals, former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar has said the Virat’s ‘consistency with the bat is beyond phenomenal’.
The 28-year-old continued his red-hot form with the bat in the recently-concluded series against New Zealand, scoring two-centuries in the three-match series to lead the Men in Blue 2-1 series win. During the series, the Indian run-machine also broke some significant records, including that of Ricky Ponting’s tally of 30 ODI centuries. Kohli scored 121 in the series-opener in Mumbai to go past Ponting and become the second leading centurion in ODIs.
Is @imVkohli the Greatest ever 50 over Batsmen !??? I wouldn’t argue against it ….
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) October 29, 2017
He went on to score a century in the third match too, thus taking his tally of ODI tons to 32. During that innings, he also became the quickest to 9,000 ODI runs, breaking South Africa star AB de Villiers’ record. He also became the captain with most ODI runs in a calendar year, bettering Ricky Ponting’s record. Kohli, who is the leading ODI run-scorer this year, also became the first player to reach the 2000 international runs this year.
Wowed by Kohli’s remarkable consistency, Gavaskar told NDTV:
“Virat’s consistency with the bat is beyond phenomenal. Against New Zealand, there was no question of him being denied a hundred. He got denied against the Australians but remember he learnt from that. He was not trying to run the ball to the third man (against New Zealand) like he got out against the Australians in two of the five matches.”
“Key to Virat Kohli’s consistency is that he learns from his mistakes and to avoid those then. That is what Virat keeps on doing. There will be some same dismissals because that’s what cricket is all about but if you have made a mistake and you try to avoid it. The bowlers will get you out because they will bowl you the odd good ball, that is accepted. But the thing that he learns from errors and avoids them, that is why he is so consistent,” he added.
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