Legendary Pakistan Batsman Zaheer Abbas is the latest among greats to heap praises on the burgeoning success of Indian skipper Virat Kohli. Abbas reiterated Virat Kohli is the best in business and has all the potential—to eclipse Sachin Tendulkar’s records.
“I think at the moment Virat is the best. He will break all the records. But not only Virat, the Indian team has other top batsmen too,” Abbas GTV News during a GSports show.
However, recently the 30-year-old peerless Kohli has bagged as many as five coveted trophies at the ICC Awards 2018. It includes Cricketer of the Year, Test Cricketer of the Year, ODI Cricketer of the Year, Test Captain of the Year and ODI Skipper of the Year respectively.
Interestingly, Kohli became the first cricketer in the history to bag the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for the second time in a row.
The 71-year-old Sialkot-born Abbas is also in awe of Team India’s Rohit Sharma for his stroke-making. Rohit who is the prolific run-scorer in the white-ball cricket has often made things easier for the national fold. Abbas asserted Indian batters had been scintillating with the wide array of strokes.
“If you look at Rohit Sharma, you are just delighted to watch his strokes. One can only appreciate the beauty of his strokes. The variety of strokes in possession of Indian batsmen counts a lot,” Abbas added.
It’s important to mention that Kohli is 10 short of Tendulkar’s 49 One-day International (ODI) hundreds. Kohli recently slammed his 39th ODI hundred at Adelaide against Australia.
Hails Indian cricket system:
While setting his focus on the stroke-making, the former ICC President Abbas pointed out that it takes a massive toll to emerge as the top-notch batsman. He also hinted the structure paves a way for such outstanding achievements.
“Obviously, the confidence will come when you have so many strokes and when you know how to stay at the wicket. These skills don’t come easily. It takes time and hard work and one needs to develop a system for this,” Abbas maintained.
In addition to, Abbas has further credited Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to maintain the credibility while citing the example of MRF pace academy. He further addressed the monetary security has sighed relief to the players.
“India at this moment is a top side. Their standards have improved a lot, especially after the IPL because they don’t allow their players to go and play anywhere else. They are giving so much financial security to their players,” Abbas further said.
Abbas wants Pakistan players to do their best:
Abbas has also pressed that Pakistan batsmen should imbibe such culture. He added there is nothing to boast about the cricketers and they are yet to reach to such a level.
“They are our players and I want to see our batsmen do very well. But at this stage, they have not reached that standard that I can feel proud of. They haven’t come up to world standards as yet,” Abbas concluded.
It’s pertinent that Pakistan has recently lost the three-match Test series against South Africa 3-0. However, the visitors led by Sarfraz Ahmed lead the five-match ODI series 1-0.
Abbas who was known for his incredible skills represented Pakistan in 78 Tests, and 62 ODIs. He amassed 5062 runs at the average of 44.79 and 2572 runs in ODIs at the average of 47.62.