The gallant Indian batting star, Virat Kohli has been in a stupendous form since India’s tour of Australia in the beginning of 2016. He was the man of the tournament for two series this year – ‘Down-Under’ in January, and the recently concluded T20 World Cup 2016.
Kohli has scored a mammoth 1544 runs in T20, in 2016 so far, at a staggering average of 102.93 and striking at a thunderous 146.9. He is the leading run-scorer in the ongoing ninth edition of the Indian Premier League, with 919 runs, including four centuries.
Given his consistency in all the formats and the ease with which he scores big playing traditional cricketing shots has garnered him praise from greats around the world. Here are 5 international cricketers who are in awe of Virat Kohli:
#1 David Warner
The Australian opener, David Warner has been all praises for the Indian Test Captain Virat Kohli since the T20 World Cup 2016. Kohli was the Man of the Series when the Men in Blue toured Australia early this year.
Virat scored 199 runs in 3 innings at an average of 199.00 and a highest score of 90 not out. He also won two Man of the Match awards in the same series.
The Australians have always been an aggressive lot, often intimidating cricketers during the game. Warner has had several on-field altercations with Indian cricketers, including Virat Kohli; but this did not stop him from appreciating the brilliance Virat has been displaying in the past five months.
The Royal Challengers Bangalore captain entered this edition of the Indian Premier League with no triple-digit figure, but now has four of them in a single season. Warner has expressed his admiration for the Indian star several times on the social networking site, Twitter.
#2 AB de Villiers
When the two best batsmen in the world play for the same team, plenty of records are bound to be broken. ‘Mr. 360’ and the Indian batting maestro easily have the best partnership in the IPL. AB and Kohli set a 229-run record second-wicket partnership in their game against Gujarat Lions, including a century each, in the same game.
The threatening RCB-duo has always appreciated each other's game, and has often spoken about how they compliment each other on the field and build momentum. The two legends have often said that they share a special bond even off the field.
In a recent interview, AB hailed his Skipper, saying
“I have watched him closely during the past few weeks, often from the non-striker’s end, and I have marvelled at his confidence, his special ability to hit the ball into gaps in the field and his talent for pacing an innings to perfection”
“Virat Kohli is pure class, world class.”
#3 Shane Watson
The Australian’s have often received flak for sledging the opponents during the game, the Australian all-rounder, Shane Watson, who is otherwise quite calm, often gets fired up when on-field. India have been touring Australia very frequently in the past few years and Kohli has been on the receiving end of the Australian sledging on more occasions than one.
The Test captain is not one to shy away from such altercations, and has always given it right back to them; this is one of the reasons why he was formerly disliked by the Aussies.
Shane Watson, who now plays with Virat Kohli for Royal Challengers Bangalore, has redefined his bond with his franchise-skipper and has been in awe of him ever since.
“He instills (a) lot of confidence in me. He lets me sort of choose the balls and allows me to set my fields accordingly as well- with his input a lot of the time as well. It’s been great to work under him and he’s using me very nicely,” Watson said in a recent interview with Sky Sports.
Watson even took to Twitter to applaud Kohli:
#4 Aaron Finch
Virat Kohli’s stupendous form in 2016 has got the entire cricketing fraternity going gaga over him. He has been on the receiving end of a lot of appreciation from the greatest of cricketers. The most recent cricketer to express his admiration for Kohli is the Aussie batsman Aaron Finch, who currently ranks second in the ICC T20 rankings.
Virat has scored 1544 runs in 26 innings, in the T20 format this year at an astonishing average of 102.93 and a crusading strike-rate of 146.90, including four centuries and a highest score of 113. After Virat scored a whirlwind 50-ball-113 against Kings XI Punjab in a rain curtailed 15-over-a-side match, Finch was not able to hold his emotions back.
The Australian tweeted pleading Virat to stop making batting look as easy as he does.
#5 Yuvraj Singh
Indian cricketers, Virat Kohli and Yuvraj Singh have always shared a brotherly bond and have never been shy of praising each other. The latter took to Twitter to acknowledge Kohli’s thunderous knock of 113 against his former team, Kings XI Punjab.
Yuvraj has also mentioned previously that he wants Virat to be the greatest in the country.
"Virat (Kohli) is in great form. He is the best batsman of this generation along with AB de Villiers. So, I hope one day he becomes a great player for India."
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