3 times cricketers made unreasonable claims regarding Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli has, over the years, earned a lot of praise and laurels for his achievements as a batter. Pundits, ex-cricketers, and his colleagues, as well as fans, have been in awe of the once-in-a-generation cricketer who has consistently delivered mind-boggling performances ever since he burst onto the scene back in 2008.

His statistics are right up there with the best to have ever graced the game. The former Indian skipper has featured in 390 games for the country and has made 24936 runs in the process, including 74 centuries.

He is part of a very elite group of cricketers who have aced all three formats. Yet, from time to time, a few cricketers go on to make unreasonable claims regarding the modern-day legend. Here, we look at three such instances.

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#1 Khurram Manzoor

Khurram Manzoor claimed to be better than Kohli as far as 50 over cricket is concerned

"I am the world no.1, after me stands Kohli. My conversion rate in List A cricket is better than him. He scores a century every six innings. I score a century in every 5.68 innings. And based on my average of 53, over the last 10 years, I am ranked fifth in the world in List A cricket," Manzoor said.

The first on this list is 36-year-old Pakistani batter Khurram Manzoor, who is in fact also the latest to join the club. Currently out of favor, Manzoor, who has featured in 26 international games, recently compared himself to Virat.

Manzoor said that when it comes to 50-over cricket, he has a better record than Virat and proclaimed himself as the 'World No. 1'. He went onto add that he has a superior conversion rate compared to Virat's as he makes a century in every 5.7 innings while the latter does that in 6.

This is quite a bizarre statement by Manzoor, taking into consideration that most of his appearances in List-A cricket have come on the domestic circuit. The cricketing landscape is no stranger to the fact that some of the flattest pitches in the world are found in Pakistan.

On the contrary, 271 out of Kohli's 305 games in List-A cricket have been in the international arena, where he has faced some of the best bowlers of his era. Kohli is arguably the best batter to have ever played ODI cricket and as such, the claims by Manzoor are unreasonable to say the least.

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#2 Kapil Dev

Kapil Dev was extremely critical of Kohli, who eventually proved him wrong

All cricketers go through a slump in their respective careers and it was no different for Virat, who endured a lean patch from 2020 to mid 2022. However, Kohli was still making contributions and it was in fact only his three-year century drought which made matters seem worse than they were.

Ahead of the 2022 ICC T20 World Cup, the former World Cup-winning captain called for Kohli to be dropped and also went on to add that Kohli was no longer indispensable in T20 internationals.

"Virat is not batting at a level which we have seen him do over the years. He has made a name because of his performances but if he isn't performing, then you can't keep the performing youngsters out of the team,'' said the World Cup winning captain.

Many former cricketers disagreed with him and Virat went on to prove Kapil Dev wrong as he was India's highest run-getter in the T20 World Cup and averaged close to 100 in the tournament.

As he has done so many times in the past, Virat stood up when the team needed him the most. Against Pakistan, Kohli's unbelievable knock of 82 not out helped India win from a position of no hope. Thus Kohli proved that his lean run was just an anomaly in what has been a peerless career. He was also recently named in the ICC's T20 team of the year for 2022.

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#3 Mitchell Johnson

Johnson commented on Kohli's behaviour despite being under the scanner for years himself

In the 2018 Perth Test between Australia and India, Virat and Tim Paine had a go at each other to gain a mental edge.

Sledging and banter is, in fact, something that has been around for years now and there's no harm in it until you cross a certain line. In the backdrop of the Test match, former Australia pacer Mitchell Johnson described Virat's behavior as silly and disrespectful despite Paine playing down the issue.

“Kohli gets away with more than most cricketers simply because he is Virat Kohli and he gets placed on a pedestal, but this Test left the Indian captain looking silly,” Johnson said.

It was quite an absurd claim, considering that he has himself been involved in many controversies, both on and off the field throughout the course of his career. He sledged quite a few England players during the 2013-14 Ashes series, which was the highlight of his career.

More recently, he was a part of an ugly altercation with former Indian cricketer Yusuf Pathan during a game in the Legends League. As such, it was comical for Johnson to pass such comments on the Indian ace.