Virat Kohli The Most Influential Figure In The Game: Mike Atherton

Dec 6, 2016 at 10:44 AM

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Virat Kohli The Most Influential Figure In The Game: Mike Atherton

Sunil Gavaskar in the 1980s, Sachin Tendulkar in 1990s and 2000s and now Virat Kohli, the Indian team should consider itself very lucky to have a batsman in every generation who dominates the world cricket like no one else.

When Tendulkar bid adieu to the game, very few people would have expected the nation would get a worthy successor of the batting maestro. Stepped in Virat Kohli and exceeded every expectation. His sheer consistency with the willow has left everyone highly impressed and former England skipper Mike Atherton is no different.

In his column for The Times, the cricketer-turned-commentator heaped praise on the India Test skipper and called him the most influential figure in the game right now.

He wrote:“If the question were to be asked of world cricket, there would be little room for debate: the most influential figure in the game is Virat Kohli, India’s captain and leading contender for the best all-round batsman in the world today. He is certainly the most in-form, as England have found to their cost, given that he has held together India’s batting in the first three Tests.”

Kohli has been performing phenomenally well this year in all formats and has continued his fine form in the ongoing series too. He has scored 405 runs at an astonishing average of over 101 in three matches.

The former English batsman compared Kohli with Tendulkar and said the Indian batting sensation’s career has an uncanny resemblance to that of his illustrious predecessor.

“But with the kind of reach through social media that did not exist when Tendulkar was in his prime. If Kohli is the most sought-after endorsement, bats at No 4 and lost his mentor father at a youngish age (Kohli was 18 when his father died; Tendulkar was 26), then that is where the similarities with the Little Master end,” he pointed out.

With a fearless approach on the field and an exemplary attitude, Kohli represents the next stage in India’s transformation.  Atherton feels Kohli has that charisma in his personality which has compelled this generation to idolise him.

“In Kohli, India have a cricketer for the 21st century: fit, driven, obsessive, social media savvy, living the reality of the collusion of cricket and celebrity and at home in three formats. A generation ago, they wanted to be like Tendulkar. Not any more,” he added.

Atherton said Virat Kohli is one of the few players who can perform well play well across all formats without changing his technique too much. He also mentioned English batsman Joe Root in that category.

“Joe Root is among that number too. Both enjoy a purity of technique allied to a wide range of strokeplay. If England are to get back into the series in Mumbai (the fourth Test starts on Thursday), then they will have to find a way of dismissing him cheaply,” the retired cricketer wrote.

England are trailing the five-match series 2-0 and will have to win the remaining two matches to avoid a series defeat.

Atherton also had a word of praise for Kohli’s fielding.

He said:“Plenty of former India players were good catchers — Rahul Dravid, for example, was an excellent slip fielder — but none that I have seen has been as dynamic in the field as Kohli. His closest rival in England colors is Stokes.”

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