Out of favour England cricketer, Ian Bell has heaped praise on Indian skipper Virat Kohli. At his prime, Bell was an elegant batter. According to him, Kohli possesses a scintillating cover drive. Kohli is a modern great of the game, having scored plenty of runs across formats.
In a conversation with Sportskeeda, Bell expressed his opinion on a large array of subjects including the technical facet of the game. The 38-year-old has represented England in 118 Test matches and 169 white-ball matches.
Ian Bell opens up on Virat Kohli’s large array of strokes
With numerous stylish players around the cricketing circuit, Bell feels Kohli tops the chart when it comes to playing the drive through the covers. He said that the cover drive is a vital part of Kohli’s batting. Bell also considers Kohli as the best active cricketer in the world.
“I really like a technical batsman. He is probably the best at the moment. It’s hard to look past Kohli’s cover drive in world cricket.” he said.
A good cover drive is therapeutic ?? pic.twitter.com/ERtGhltAR2
— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) November 1, 2019
Ian Bell- England warrior and a domestic run-machine
Bell last turned out for the Three Lions back in the year 2015. The right-handed batsman has scored bucket full of runs but somehow missed out on making a return to the national fold. In the First-Class cricket, the batter has scored over 20,200 runs and is certainly a legend in its own right.
Not too long back, Kohli himself posted a picture of him playing a cover drive on Instagram. He termed it ‘therapeutic’. Clearly, his shot-making is a treat to the eyes – the manner in which he pierces the gap and that too very often.
Apart from the cover drive, Kohli’s arsenal is filled with hooks, pulls, square cuts, and lofted drives. Not to mention the short-arm jab which attracted the attention of cricket lovers. The 31-year-old has scored 7,240 runs in 86 Test matches. In ODIs, the skipper has amassed 11,867 runs and he has replicated similar touch in the shortest format of the game in international cricket as well, scoring 2,794 runs.
