Former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar has said that Virat Kohli should quit ODIs after the upcoming World Cup and focus on breaking the 100 international centuries record of Sachin Tendulkar as he can play for six more years easily given his fitness.
Virat Kohli had endured a three-year horror run in international and IPL cricket when he failed to score a single century in any format and in 2022, even half-centuries were hard to come by. However, a month’s break in August last year, did wonders for the former India captain.
He came roaring back and hammered his maiden T20I ton in Asia Cup 2022 against Afghanistan and then proceeded to hammer 4 centuries in ODIs in a short span of time. He then broke the Test century drought as well against Australia at home and recently scored his first overseas Test ton since 2019 against West Indies.
He played an amazing knock in the T20 World Cup 2022 against Pakistan when he scored 82* in 53 balls to take India to an amazing win from an impossible situation.
Shoaib Akhtar talked about that knock by Kohli in an interview to RevSportz.
“That match was all about Virat Kohli. The cricket Gods wanted to do it for him. He wasn’t in the best of form, and was facing a lot of heat from you guys in India. The media was after him. It was God’s way of telling him – this is your stage, come and become king again. If you see all that transpired – rain and a lot of it, 100,000 people, 1.3 billion Indians watching, 30 crore Pakistanis watching, the whole world in awe – the stage was set for Kohli. It was the greatest stage of all. When you add the two sixes he hit off Haris Rauf, that match gave him back his kingdom. I think it was all destined for him on that day at the MCG,” Shoaib Akhtar said.
India won the encounter by 3 wickets in the end, avenging their loss in the previous edition of the tournament in UAE.
Virat Kohli Should Play For At Least Six More Years And Break The 100 Hundreds Record Of Sachin Tendulkar: Shoaib Akhtar
Shoaib Akhtar also said that he wants Virat Kohli to break Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 100 international centuries. Kohli has 76 international tons to his name at the age of 34 and currently needs only 4 more centuries to break Tendulkar’s record for most ODI centuries-49.
“While on Kohli, I don’t think he should play more 50-overs matches after this World Cup. Also, if you see him in T20s, it takes a lot out of him. I think he should play for at least six more years and break the 100 hundreds record of Sachin Tendulkar. Kohli has it in him to break the record. He should focus on Test cricket after this World Cup, and break this record.
Also, there was a lot of chat about him losing captaincy. I don’t read much into it. I actually think it has freed him up. Why did he start playing? He started his cricket to be like Sachin Tendulkar. He has become like Sachin. Scored loads of runs. Now, he should just continue to score runs for his team and win India more and more games. Losing captaincy is actually good for him as a batter, because the pressure of captaincy cripples you,” Akhtar added.
Virat Kohli will be seen in action in the upcoming Asia Cup 2023 which begins on August 30.