Virat Kohli. What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you read or hear the name of the current captain? Driven individual? Fitness freak? An epitome of bloody-mindedness? A hundred-churning freak? Run-making juggernaut? Champion batsman? Best in the business across formats?
To be honest, Virat Kohli is an amalgamation of all the aforementioned attributes mentioned above. The Indian captain has already racked up as many as 70 international hundreds in his 11-year-old career and is the only batsman to average in excess of 50 in all the three formats of the game?
Kohli is a member of the much-acclaimed Fab-4, which includes the likes of Steven Smith, Joe Root, and Kane Williamson. While the likes of Smith, Root, and Williamson are neck-to-neck, and in the case of Smith, even ahead of Virat Kohli in the five-day format of the game, that is not the case in white-ball cricket.
Kohli, who averages close to 60 in ODIs and just over 50 in the shortest format of the game, is daylights ahead of his contemporaries in white-ball cricket, which is why he is hailed as the best batsman across all format in the modern game.
“It’s Virat Kohli, across all formats”- Kevin Pietersen
Former English swashbuckling batsman Kevin Pietersen was asked the same question in a recent interview with Times Now. And, the legendary cricketer had no qualms in naming Virat as the best in the world across all three formats.
“No other option. It’s Virat Kohli, across all formats. He is way above everybody else,” Kevin Pietersen told Times Now.
Virat Kohli shot into limelight way back in 2008 when he led India to the U-19 World Cup title in Kuala Lumpur. Kohli was immediately drafted in the Royal Challengers Bangalore outfit for the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League.
Kohli then went on to make his ODI debut against Sri Lanka later that year. But it was only in late 2009 when he stroked his maiden hundred against Sri Lanka and followed it up with consistent scores for the next 12 months, that he was able to cement his place in the Indian line-up.
Virat played some crucial innings in the 2011 World Cup and post the triumphs, he was awarded his Test debut. He struggled against the rising ball in the West Indies and by the pace and bounce in the first Tests in Australia before he finally shrugged off the ignominy and scored a brilliant 75 at Perth and his maiden hundred in the following Test match.
Virat endured another set-back in Test cricket in 2014 when his technique was challenged by the seaming and swinging conditions of England. But just as he had done in the past, Kohli shrugged off the blip with disdain, four years later, when he finished as the leading run-scorer among both sides.
Kohli is an epitome of versatility and no wonder why he is the best batsman across all the three formats currently.
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