The Indian Run Machine, Virat Kohli proved his tagline stoutly with his unquenchable innings of 122 during India’s chase against England (at Pune) in the first ODI on Sunday. The score and Laurel’s earner compelled even the opponents to extend accolades to Kohli.
The most esteemed remark came from former English cricketer who captained the England cricket team between 1999 and 2003, Nasser Hussain. Hussian called Kohli the “Cristiano Ronaldo of Cricket”. Hussain spoke to Kohli a few days prior to the game for a batting demo, available to watch On Demand.
“I sensed when speaking to Kohli and watching him out here, that people make targets, as in ‘this is as good as I can get and I can’t get any better than that’,” Hussain said.
“I think what Kohli is trying to do is push the boundary and raise the bar of everything he does,” said Hussain on Sky Sports. “No one says to him ‘being captain in three forms is too much for you’, no one says ‘you can chase 300 but can you chase 350 from 63-4?’ I read out here that he prefers (Cristiano) Ronaldo to (Lionel) Messi. Messi was given a lot of natural ability but he prefers Ronaldo, who has made himself the footballer that he is and pushed himself on and off football pitch — and that is what Kohli has done in cricketing terms,” added Hussain.
“Here is a bloke who is supremely talented but is constantly trying to tell himself and push himself to be better and better. That is a dangerous combination. I read out here that he prefers Ronaldo to (Lionel) Messi. Messi was given a lot of natural ability but he prefers Ronaldo, who has made himself the footballer that he is and pushed himself on and off football pitch – and that is what Kohli has done in cricketing terms,” Hussain elaborated
Moreover, Hussian is not the only former England captain to hail Kohli. Former English skipper Michael Vaughan indeed declared Virat Kohli as the Alien! He took to his tweeter handle to express excitement while watching a glorious Indian skipper.
“VIRAT KOHLI IS FROM ANOTHER PLANET #Fact”, Vaughan tweeted.
Also, he visualised him as the best player in the world across all formats. “Best Test player … KOHLI Best ODI player … KOHLI. Best T20 player … KOHLI,“ he tweeted.
England skipper Eoin Morgan said after the match that Kohli is “fantastic” and that it was proven yet again in Pune. “There is always something you can do even when he’s in and at times the plans weren’t too far from working,” he said. “There was a ball that just went over (Alex) Halesy’s head… on another day that goes to hand, they’re five down and we’re into them. But he’s a fantastic player and he’s proved that over a long period of time,” Morgan added.
(With inputs from Agencies)